Lebanon prison hunger strike hits 400 inmates

About 400 mostly Islamist detainees at Lebanon's Roumieh prison have been on hunger strike since September 12 over the suspended implementation of an amnesty law, a Lebanese judicial official said Tuesday.

Lebanon's parliament passed the sweeping amnesty law last month, the country's first since 1991 after the civil war. It is intended to benefit thousands of prisoners and wanted people, many of them Islamists.

A group of lawmakers has appealed to Lebanon's Constitutional Council to overturn the law, leading to a suspension of its implementation on September 10. The council, which checks whether laws comply with the constitution, is expected to announce its decision next month.

The judicial official said prison administrators were monitoring the health of the striking prisoners, including 80 who suffer from chronic illness.

Lebanon has long faced severe prison overcrowding, worsened by slow trials and the detention of suspects for years without judicial proceedings. The National Human Rights Commission said in a report last year that the prison population had reached 300 percent of capacity, with more than 6,200 inmates by the end of March.

The amnesty debate has been polarised because some Islamist detainees are accused of carrying out bombings and attacks against the Lebanese army. Experts say the law is also meant to benefit other factions and religious communities.