NGO Slams Lebanon For Failure To Act On Torture 5 Years On Since Making Commitments

Muhammad Irfan Published November 25, 2020 | 03:51 PM

The Lebanese government should put an end to the practice of encouraging impunity for torture and ill treatment and finally follow through on commitments to investigate all related cases, an international rights group said on Wednesday, in the run-up to the UN review of the country's record

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2020) The Lebanese government should put an end to the practice of encouraging impunity for torture and ill treatment and finally follow through on commitments to investigate all related cases, an international rights group said on Wednesday, in the run-up to the UN review of the country's record.

According to Amnesty International, during the UN Human Rights Council's last review in 2015, the middle Eastern country pledged to probe and prosecute all allegations of torture.

"Yet, five years later, impunity for torture remains in place with complaints regarding torture and other ill-treatment filed under the 2017 Anti-Torture Law rarely reaching court and most closed without an effective investigation," the rights group said.

The problem is that the complaints are often referred to the same agencies accused of torture or military courts, instead of the civilian justice system, according to the watchdog.

Lebanon is thereby "failing survivors of torture" and sending "a message to torturers that they can carry out committing this atrocious crime without fear of consequence," Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, noting that this practice also deters others from coming forward.

The rights group estimated that out of at least 30 cases of torture filed between October 2017 and March 2020, none has reached a verdict, and most were closed without investigation.

Amnesty International also shared a story of Lebanese actor Ziad Itani, who filed a torture complaint two years ago, but is now under investigation himself for alleged defamation, while an officer he accuses of torturing him in detention has since been promoted by President Michel Aoun.