- Lebanon's National Report

- Report on Lebanon prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

- Summary by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of NGO submissions

In its report Alkarama notes the particular situation of the country since 2005. Lebanon has been significantly destabilized by various events: the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri on 14 February 2005 and the resulting accusations against Syria, UN Resolution 1559i which forced Syria to withdraw its troops in 2006, the Israeli offensive against Lebanon in 2006 and the multiplication of attacks against political figures. In addition, there were also frequent clashes in the north between the Lebanese army and Fatah Al-Islam in 2007. It only takes the smallest political event to highlight the fragility of the Lebanese system; parliamentary or presidential elections, forming a new government, etc. It is a weakness due at once to the permanent threat of fresh Israeli agression and to conflicts that could lead Lebanon into another civil war if the regional and international powers intervene in its internal affairs.

In its report Alkarama also touches on the modification of the Lebanese Penal Code, which expanded the scope of crimes punishable by the death penalty and brought many cases that had previously fallen within under the jurisdiction of the ordinary criminal courts to the exclusive jurisdiction of military tribunals.

The last few years have been marked by a considerable number of arbitrary arrests carried out by agents of Military Intelligence or State Security. These arrests are made without the prior consent of the prosecution, without a judicial warrant and without informing the person arrested of the reasons for his arrest.

The information gathered and the many cases documented by our organization and other NGOs show that the use of torture and other cruel inhuman practices remain common among Lebanese security services.

Alkarama's recommendations:

1 - Introduce reforms in the judicial system to ensure fair trials, including the abolishment of the jurisdiction of military courts to try civilians, respect for the principle of the right to a review by a higher tribunal and the removal of executive interference in the judiciary.

2 - End the practice of incommunicado detention at military and intelligence service premises within the Directorate General of the Internal Security Forces.

3 - Ensure that conditions of detention in prisons are up to standards established by the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment adopted by General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988.

4 - Stop torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, open prompt and impartial investigations into allegations of torture and all cases of deaths in custody, prosecute and convict those responsible for these acts and compensate victims and/or their families; strictly prohibit the use of confessions extracted through torture before the courts.

5 - Implement a system of independent control over all places of detention as required by the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, ratified by the country.

6 - Take all necessary measures to clarify the fate of missing persons in Syria and Lebanon.

7 - Take all necessary measures to improve the situation of Palestinian refugees and normalise the status of those are not legally considered refugees.

On the normative level:

8 - Integrate a definition of the crime of torture into domestic law, as defined by Article 1 of the Convention and impose appropriate penalties to punish offenders.

9 - Ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearance and the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.