For over three months – until his transfer to Roumieh Prison on 26 October 2010 – Rabaa was repeatedly subjected to severe torture carried out with the aim of extracting confessions from him. At the time, he was, in fact, forced to sign official incriminating documents. He was then brought before a military court on 7 February 2011.

During this first trial, several of Rabaa's procedural rights were violated. On 30 May 2013, a week before his next trial on 7 June 2013, Alkarama and the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) had written to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) to inform him of the serious violations of his right to a fair trial, enshrined in the international treaties to which Lebanon is a party, in particular the International Convention for Civil and Political Rights that Lebanon accessed in November 1972. Amongst the violations of Lebanon's international obligations which made Rabaa's detention arbitrary were his excessive pre-trial detention, the admission of forced confessions as evidence, and the fact that a civilian must not be tried before military jurisdictions.

Moreover, Rabaa had always claimed his innocence. During his detention, he even carried out a hunger strike for more than two weeks demanding that he be freed or, at the very least, put under the protection of the law. Upon his release, he declared: "I am innocent and I will prove my innocence because there is neither evidence nor a confession of the charges against me."

While welcoming his liberation, Alkarama calls upon the Lebanese authorities to duly investigate all allegations of torture and to bring their perpetrators to justice, as demanded by the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Lebanon is party since 2000.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dir: +41 22 734 1007 Ext: 810)