Pre-hearings for 20 Islamist prisoners suspected of fighting the Lebanese Army in 2007 got under way Friday amid heavy security.
The inmates arrived at Beirut’s Justice Palace around 1 p.m. They were whisked past waiting photographers and reporters in prisoner transport vehicles after leaving Roumieh prison, northeast of Beirut.
The initial hearings took place before members of the Judicial Council.
The inmates were the first batch of 86 Islamist Roumieh prisoners scheduled for pre-hearings next week.
A judicial source said the defendants, all suspected to have links with Fatah al-Islam, were informed of the accusations brought against them.
Council members were also to make sure that in the event a defendant could not afford an attorney that the Bar Association would appoint a lawyer, added the source, who spoke to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.
He said 230 other Islamist suspects who had been released from jail after being rounded up will also be summoned for pre-hearings.
Friday’s procedure took place under tight police and army security.
Employees left the Justice Palace at 10 a.m., and the building’s parking lot was emptied.
Cars were also banned from parking in the area around the Justice Palace and the nearby Justice Ministry until the prisoners return to Roumieh.
The suspects are allegedly involved in the fighting between the Lebanese Army and the Islamist group in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in 2007.
Although Friday’s procedure is a preliminary questioning of the men, it marks the first legal action taken by the judiciary to begin the trials of the Islamists who have been detained in Roumieh prison without charge since 2007.
Lebanon's Prisoners' Association welcomed the start of trials as "an important step towards justice, although they are taking place several years later and have harmed the image of Lebanon in its human rights record."
A statement issued by the association urged the judiciary to include all the prisoners jailed in Roumieh and in other prisons across Lebanon regardless of their political affiliations.
