Lebanese, 2 Syrians Charged with Helping Fatah al-Islam Inmates Escape from Prison

State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Thursday a Lebanese man and two Syrians with helping three Fatah al-Islam inmates escape from Roumieh prison, the oldest and largest of Lebanon's overcrowded prisons.

The National News Agency reported that the three men were also charged with facilitating a prison break attempt for another inmate.

On November 1, Internal Security Forces thwarted a jail break attempt by a Fatah al-Islam inmate from Roumieh prison, who was planning to wear a black Islamic veil “chador” and climb down using a rope from bloc “B” that the Islamist inmates are held in.

In October, it was discovered that three Fatah al-Islam prisoners had fled the jail at least a month ago.

Sixteen security forces members have been detained in the scandal amid reports that the wide “security and judicial purification” operation of the prison will be carried out soon.

In another major prison break from Roumieh, five Fatah al-Islam inmates managed to escape in August 2011.

The Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon was almost totally destroyed in 2007 during a months-long conflict between the Lebanese army and the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam.

The fighting killed some 400 people, including 168 soldiers.