BEIRUT: On Wednesday, telecommunication networks in southern Lebanon were completely out of service. Other regions may follow, portending a nationwide telecom and internet outage.
A total of 5,674 employees at the Ministry of Communications and state-run internet provider Ogero went on strike, demanding that their salaries be increased.
Maintenance on the telephone networks that feed telecom lines has stopped as employees insisted on not fixing any malfunctions until their demands are met.
The employees demand that they receive their salaries based on the rate of 8,000 Lebanese pounds to the US dollar.
As telephone lines gradually went out of service, the emergency number of the Lebanese Red Cross was suspended as well.
Lebanese judges were reimbursed based on the 8,000-pound-per-dollar rate for two months (instead of the 1,500-pound-per-dollar rate).
However, following protests by other public sector workers, the decision was revoked. This prompted judges to go on strike as of Aug. 23.
As state institutions collapsed one after the other amid the worsening economic crisis, protests broke out in Lebanese prisons.
Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi suggested looking into a general amnesty, which he believes has become necessary under the circumstances.
“Prisons are overcrowded, 79.1 percent of prisoners are not convicted, and many suffer from malnutrition and medicine shortages,” Mawlawi told the press on Wednesday.
He appealed to judges to contribute to solving the problem of prison overcrowding by expediting trials.
“Funds worth 20 billion pounds have been allocated to secure food after the companies supplying food to prisons stopped providing their services because they were no longer getting paid,” said Mawlawi.
“Prisons benefit from grants that reach the Ministry of Interior, and if need be, we will transfer all grants to the prisoners.”
In addition, Mawlawi advised shortening prison sentences, stressing that caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri support the idea.
He noted that a bill will be submitted in this regard on Thursday to be presented to Parliament.
Prisoners went on a hunger strike and protested in Roumieh prison, where the number of inmates exceeds the standard capacity by four times, casting a shadow over all aspects of prisoners’ lives. The protests were dispersed by force, and some soldiers were stabbed.
While prison food does not satisfy basic nutritional standards, the prison administration prevents the families of convicts from bringing food to the prison out of concern that they could be smuggling contraband.
Rabih Qais, an activist in defense of the prisoners, told Arab News: “The situation in prisons is an extension of the prevailing situation in the entire country but in a more severe way.
“There’s no electricity or ventilation. Lebanon’s prisons, which can accommodate a total of 3,500 prisoners, currently hold about 8,000 prisoners.
“Detainees are being transferred to holding cells in police stations, and 43 percent of the prisoners are Syrians, Palestinians and other nationalities.”
Qais asked: “How do drugs and cell phones enter Roumieh prison despite the tight security measures there? Protests in this prison often break out as a result of the indescribable bad conditions.”
After confiscating several cell phones and makeshift knives from prisoners in Roumieh, Mawlawi said: “The prison problem is due to the weak capabilities of the state, overcrowding and lack of discipline.”
The head of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, MP Michel Moussa, said the committee will hold a meeting on Thursday in this regard. He stressed the urgent need to address the living and health issues of prisoners.
“We called on international bodies and civil society to help in this matter. There are proposals to build new prisons or take certain unused state headquarters in order to reduce overcrowding in prisons, in addition to speeding up trials, especially since the majority of prisoners are not yet convicted,” Moussa said.