ISF Quashes Roumieh Prison Riot

An Internal Security Forces unit raided Roumieh prison at dawn Tuesday to end a riot by inmates in blocs B and D of the facility, said the state-run National News Agency.

The agency said that the riot began around midnight and lasted till 4:00 am. The ISF unit crushed the mutiny and doused fires caused by burning mattresses and covers, NNA said.

Father Marwan Ghanem, who was tasked with negotiating with prisoners during the last riot earlier in the month, said the mutiny began overnight after a misunderstanding between the inmates who later detained a soldier,

Ghanem told Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) that the riot began at 11:30 pm Monday at the prison’s bloc D and then transferred to bloc B at 2:00 am Tuesday.

He said power was cut in the prison to prevent inmates from using electricity to break doors or trying to escape from the jail. But Ghanem lamented that during the riot the prisoners set fire that damaged most renovation work carried out after the last unrest.

Prison authorities will summon the instigators and those involved in the mutiny to question them about the latest incident, NNA said.

Meanwhile, the brother of an inmate set tires on fire at 2:00 am in Hay el-Sellum and removed his clothes threatening to kill himself if his brother wasn’t released from Roumieh prison.