Asia · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
More Than 400 Prisoners In Roumieh Hunger Strike Over Lebanon’s Suspended General Amnesty Law
More than 400 prisoners at Roumieh have hunger-struck for over ten days. The general amnesty law was approved by Parliament but suspended by the Constitutional Council.
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Hunger Strike Over Amnesty
More than 400 detainees in Lebanon’s largest prisons began a hunger strike more than 10 days ago, according to a judicial source cited by Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, in protest of the suspension of the implementation of a general amnesty law. The Lebanese Parliament approved on August 12 a broad general amnesty law, and the Constitutional Council suspended its implementation on September 10 while it studies a challenge filed to nullify it.
A judicial source said, “400 prisoners, most of them Islamists, have been on hunger strike since September 12, in the overcrowded Rihani (Riyomi/Romieh) Prison, northeast of Beirut, in protest of the decision to suspend the law’s implementation.” The Constitutional Council is expected to issue its ruling on the law in October, while authorities monitor the prisoners’ health daily and an ambulance has been prepared in case one’s health deteriorates.
Roumieh Health Crisis
Al-Jadeed channel said more than 400 prisoners in Roumieh prison entered the tenth day of an open-ended hunger strike, with more than 23 critical cases recorded as health conditions rapidly deteriorated. Al-Jadeed also reported a new wave of tuberculosis in the prison, with documentation of at least 10 infections and some patients moved to isolation.
The prisoners raised banners calling on the Constitutional Council to lift the freeze on the General Amnesty Law, and they said expedited implementation would provide a humanitarian exit from the escalating crisis inside the prison. A prison spokesman confirmed more than 23 cases of severe fatigue, along with an increase in neurological crises among some inmates who refused to take their medications.
Overcrowding and What’s Next
Lebanon’s President Jozef Aoun signed the law on September 4, 2026, making it Law No. 70/2026, before the Constitutional Council temporarily suspended its effect on September 10.
The hunger strike at Roumieh Central Prison, Lebanon’s largest prison, coincided with demonstrations by prisoners’ families and street protests as inmates awaited the Constitutional Council’s ruling on the challenge.
The National Human Rights Institution reported in its 2025 annual report that prison overcrowding stood at 300 percent, and the Prison Directorate said the number of detainees had reached 6,268 as of March 30 of the past year.
The judicial source quoted by AFP said authorities are monitoring the strikers’ health daily, with 80 inmates suffering chronic diseases and a paramedic vehicle prepared to intervene if anyone’s condition worsens.