Future MP Alloush attacked during speech at Salafi protest
Source: AFP & Daily Star, 9-8-2008
Hundreds of supporters of Islamist groups staged a protest in Tripoli and Sidon Friday to demand the release of scores of prisoners suspected of plotting or carrying out militant attacks in Lebanon. A member of Parliament and his bodyguard were pelted with stones and bottles during the protest in the Northern coastal city of Tripoli.
Future Movement MP Mustafa Alloush had been invited by organizers of the protest in Tripoli to make a speech, but as he began to speak, demonstrators hurled bottles and stones at him, an AFP correspondent said.
Alloush, a member of the Future Movement that leads the parliamentary majority, was hit by a stone and slightly wounded, the correspondent said.
The MP took cover in a nearby building where the Lebanese Red Cross tended to his injury before evacuating him by ambulance under tight security, the correspondent added.
Another man, believed to be his bodyguard, was also hurt.
Alloush confirmed the attack had taken place but denied being injured.
"A group of troublemakers attacked me as soon as I started to speak and I couldn't continue my speech," he told AFP. "I was hit on the shoulder but wasn't hurt."
The protest was organized by relatives of alleged members of Fatah al-Islam, an Al-Qaeda-inspired group that fought a 15-week battle in 2007 with the army in and around the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared north of Tripoli.
About 300 people have since been detained by the Lebanese authorities for their alleged links with Fatah al-Islam. Their trials are expected to begin in the coming months.
Since Tuesday several hundred detainees have been on hunger strike, a security official said.
The army took control of the camp last September after fierce fighting killed over 400 people, including 168 Lebanese soldiers.
In separate events, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar and Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud have met with the chairman of the parliamentary committee on human rights MP Michel Moussa on Thursday to discuss conditions in Lebanese prisons.
The meeting looked at the situation of certain in Roumieh prison detainees, who are demanding an acceleration of the processing of lawsuits and complaints filed against them.
In a statement issued following their meeting, officials announced that they were satisfied with the measures that are being taken in order to "respect the principles of a fair trial, including limiting as much as possible states of provisional detention, which lead to overcrowding in the prisons."
They also said they would work to improve the situation of prisons "legislatively, administratively, and practically."
"This would include building modern prisons, so as to limit overcrowding and to make sure that they conform to the necessary international standards," the statement added.
Najjar, Baroud, and Moussa also said they would maintain communication and cooperation among the legislative, executive, and judicial authorities "to reach agreement on a practical program for reforming prisons and improving their conditions" to ensure human dignity and prisoners' rights.
Hundreds of supporters of Islamist groups staged a protest in Tripoli and Sidon Friday to demand the release of scores of prisoners suspected of plotting or carrying out militant attacks in Lebanon. A member of Parliament and his bodyguard were pelted with stones and bottles during the protest in the Northern coastal city of Tripoli.
Future Movement MP Mustafa Alloush had been invited by organizers of the protest in Tripoli to make a speech, but as he began to speak, demonstrators hurled bottles and stones at him, an AFP correspondent said.
Alloush, a member of the Future Movement that leads the parliamentary majority, was hit by a stone and slightly wounded, the correspondent said.
The MP took cover in a nearby building where the Lebanese Red Cross tended to his injury before evacuating him by ambulance under tight security, the correspondent added.
Another man, believed to be his bodyguard, was also hurt.
Alloush confirmed the attack had taken place but denied being injured.
"A group of troublemakers attacked me as soon as I started to speak and I couldn't continue my speech," he told AFP. "I was hit on the shoulder but wasn't hurt."
The protest was organized by relatives of alleged members of Fatah al-Islam, an Al-Qaeda-inspired group that fought a 15-week battle in 2007 with the army in and around the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared north of Tripoli.
About 300 people have since been detained by the Lebanese authorities for their alleged links with Fatah al-Islam. Their trials are expected to begin in the coming months.
Since Tuesday several hundred detainees have been on hunger strike, a security official said.
The army took control of the camp last September after fierce fighting killed over 400 people, including 168 Lebanese soldiers.
In separate events, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar and Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud have met with the chairman of the parliamentary committee on human rights MP Michel Moussa on Thursday to discuss conditions in Lebanese prisons.
The meeting looked at the situation of certain in Roumieh prison detainees, who are demanding an acceleration of the processing of lawsuits and complaints filed against them.
In a statement issued following their meeting, officials announced that they were satisfied with the measures that are being taken in order to "respect the principles of a fair trial, including limiting as much as possible states of provisional detention, which lead to overcrowding in the prisons."
They also said they would work to improve the situation of prisons "legislatively, administratively, and practically."
"This would include building modern prisons, so as to limit overcrowding and to make sure that they conform to the necessary international standards," the statement added.
Najjar, Baroud, and Moussa also said they would maintain communication and cooperation among the legislative, executive, and judicial authorities "to reach agreement on a practical program for reforming prisons and improving their conditions" to ensure human dignity and prisoners' rights.
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