Human Rights Minister Urges Army, Judiciary to Probe Detainees Deaths

State Minister for Human Rights Ayman Choucair on Thursday called on the army and the judiciary to probe the recent deaths of at least four Syrian detainees in army custody.

“The military institution has offered hefty sacrifices to protect the country, fight terrorism and eradicate extremism, and this is something that every Lebanese citizen is proud of,” Choucair said in a statement.

“But all agencies tasked with enforcing the law and protecting security should abide by the detention norms that are stipulated by the law and should respect the rights of any detainee during interrogation,” the minister added, citing Lebanon's Code of Criminal Procedure and “the international laws that Lebanon has been signatory of since around 17 years.”

“Accordingly, and in order to preserve the army's image and prevent any possibly malicious rumors, we call on the Army Command and the relevant judicial authorities to launch a transparent investigation into all the pictures and reports that were recently circulated regarding the latest arrests in Arsal, and to determine the causes that led to the death of a number of detainees,” Choucair went on to say.

He also underscored that a government decision to “task the army with probing the detainees' death circumstances would be a proof of keenness on transparency and on clarifying the issue to the public opinion.”

Media reports said Thursday that the government has decided to ask the Army Command to form a panel of inquiry into the deaths, after Prime Minister Saad Hariri raised the issue during Wednesday's Cabinet session.

“Defense Minister Yacoub Sarraf would then brief Cabinet on the outcome before announcing the results in a press conference,” al-Hayat newspaper said.

A Syrian opposition group and international and local human rights organizations had on Wednesday called for a quick investigation into the death of the four detainees.

The four were detained in a sweeping security raid last week in refugee settlements in and around the border town of Arsal that netted 355 Syrians. Troops were met with a string of suicide attacks and grenades that left seven of them wounded and a Syrian child dead.

The army's announcement that four detainees died due to "chronic health problems aggravated by weather conditions" sparked swift allegations that the four Syrian men were tortured to death, particularly after images emerged depicting a body with a bruised neck and bloody face.

In remarks to The Associated Press over the weekend, an unnamed military official had dismissed allegations of abuse, saying mass detentions were necessary to combat terrorism. There has been no official response from the army to the accusations that followed the deaths.