Inmates End Roumieh Sit-in after Rifi Listens to Their 'Legitimate Demands'

Inmates at Roumieh prison held a strike at the facility on Friday, two days after dozens stitched their lips together as part of a hunger strike to demand better living conditions.

The prisoners, however, ended their sit-in in the afternoon after Judge Dany al-Zhenni listened to their “legitimate demands and needs,” Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi announced.

“State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr tasked Judge Dany al-Zhenni to head to the Roumieh prison and listen to the prisoners' demands in order to restore normalcy,” Rifi said in a statement.

The minister said he contacted Zhenni in person and gave him “the appropriate instructions to resolve this case.”

Consequently, “Zhenni headed to the Roumieh prison and met with a number of inmates and receiving a list containing their legitimate demands and needs, which will be put into implementation as of Monday after being studied,” Rifi added.

Earlier on Friday, 200 prisoners at the facility demanded to hold talks with Rifi and Saqr to file a complaint against the administration in Lebanon's largest prison.

The inmates threatened to further escalate their measures if their demands weren't met, the state-run National News Agency reported.

On Wednesday, around 50 prisoners went on a hunger strike to protest what they described as Roumieh administration’s “ill-treatment of the detainees.”

The inmates even sewed their lips together to announce the beginning of their hunger strike, according to a video footage shown by LBCI.

Roumieh, the oldest and largest of Lebanon's overcrowded prisons, has witnessed sporadic prison breaks and escalating riots in recent years as inmates living in poor conditions demand better treatment.