Hundreds of Lebanese Prisoners Face Critical Health Risks as Hunger Strike Enters Third Week

The medical condition of dozens of detainees has deteriorated as inmates continue a hunger strike over the suspension of a general amnesty law.

Dozens of inmates participating in a hunger strike for more than two weeks at Lebanon’s largest prison are in critical condition, according to a Lebanese legal campaigner.

“Around 400 prisoners have maintained the hunger strike for over two weeks. Ambulances now enter the facility every day to take away dozens of them because their condition has become critical,” said Mohammed Sablouh, a lawyer and director of the Prisoners’ Rights Center at the Tripoli Bar Association, speaking on Wednesday.

“The prisoners are refusing medication, food and water,” he said.

Inmates at Roumieh Prison began the hunger strike on September 12 to protest the suspension of a general amnesty law that could have provided immediate release or reduced sentences for many of them.

Protests have also been held in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second city, against the suspension of the law, which includes provisions to release prisoners convicted of minor offenses.

Many of the prisoners taking part in the hunger strike were detained in solidarity with the Syrian revolution against former President Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024 after more than a decade of conflict.

The Free Patriotic Movement, one of Lebanon’s largest political parties, has filed an appeal before the Constitutional Council over concerns that some inmates were charged with terrorism. A decision is expected next month.

Overcrowded Prisons

Lebanese prisons are widely known for severe overcrowding, with thousands of inmates spending years behind bars without trial. The current prison population is estimated at about 8,500, nearly twice the declared capacity.

The law, passed on August 12, was intended to ease overcrowding in the country’s correctional system.

“Prison overcrowding now exceeds 330 percent of the facilities’ actual capacity,” Sablouh said.

“The situation in Lebanon’s prisons is truly tragic. The system can no longer withstand any shock or any reversal of the amnesty law.”

More than 40 prisoners died in 2025. “Some died because of medical neglect, others under torture, and some by suicide as a result of prolonged trials and repeated postponements,” Sablouh said.

The lawyer attributed the large number of detainees largely to judicial delays, noting that many were arrested for minor offenses. He criticized the judiciary’s failure to comply with Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which sets limits on pretrial detention: two months for misdemeanors, renewable once, and six months for felonies, renewable once, up to a maximum of one year.

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