Hizbullah Denies Having 'Secret Prisons' in Dahiyeh

Hizbullah has denied reports accusing it of running “secret prisons” in its stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.

“Certainly Hizbullah does not have any prisons,” al-Jadeed television quoted Hizbullah's media department as saying.

“Those who wish can go in person to inspect the commercial institutions and other places” which have been described as sites for Hizbullah's alleged prisons, the department added.

“This is part of a campaign that targets Hizbullah every now and then, especially on social networking websites before reaching media outlets,” Hizbullah's media department went on to say.

The rebuttal comes after the young man Ali Mazloum, who identified himself on Facebook as the son of “Hizbullah martyr leader Hussein Mazloum”, posted pictures of shops and other sites allegedly containing secret Hizbullah prisons.

Mazloum also announced that he had been held in one of the alleged prisons, which he described as being worse than “the prisons of the Israeli enemy.”

He also claimed that “prisoners” are subjected to “beatings and torture with all the physical and psychological methods including food deprivation.”

His allegations were picked up by several media outlets including Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television.