Premium Content:

Lebanon: 2 men assumed to be gay, tortured by police

Flag_of_Lebanon

Police in Lebanon last month arrested two men after being caught with half a gram of cannabis as they passed through a checkpoint towards Saida in the south.

- Advertisement -

According to Blog Baladi, the encounter quickly escalated as police began to demean the men (named Samer & Omar) in custody, verbally abusing the pair. After a drug test revealed that Samer and Omar had no trace of narcotics in their system, the officers announced they had found something in Samer’s phone.

A contact listed as ‘Habibi’ – an Arabic term for “my darling” or “my friend” – was what the officers had found. As a result, the police postulated that Samer must be gay, intensifying the ordeal once more.

Samer and Omar were beaten, water-boarded, electrocuted and violently coerced into naming their homosexual friends and drug dealers. Officers told Samer and Omar’s parents that their children were homosexual. When the parents arrived at the police station, the boys were kept away from their families as the police insisted they had not been harmed.

Samer and Omar were tortured for another 6 days in custody, later being transferred to Hobieche police in Beirut for another 5 days. In Hobieche, the boys shared a 20sqm cell with more than 20 other men.

Upon leaving Hobieche, Samer and Omar returned to Saida where they spent 8 more days incarcerated. This time, the men were sent to the local prison, where officers ensured the prison population knew that Samer and Omar were gay. Omar has since been released after 3 weeks of detainment, paying a fee to be released. Samer remains in prison.

Shockingly, a Lebanese judge just last year ruled that homosexuality does not contradict the laws of nature, effectively decriminalising homosexuality in Lebanon. Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Nohad el Machnouk, is looking into the events.

Leigh Hill

Latest

New Marc Fennell SBS series tackles the big topics

Over a series of dinner parties the SBS host greets guests for bold and fearless conversations.

On This Gay Day | Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' is published

Orlando, Longtime Companion, Cleeve Jones, Jean Cocteau and much more in today's post.

Today is International Day Against the Death Penalty

Around the globe there are 12 nations that execute people who are LGBTIQA+

Madonna to release ‘Bedtime Stories’ demos with new EP

The singer has delved into the vault and found some long lost tracks.

Newsletter

Don't miss

New Marc Fennell SBS series tackles the big topics

Over a series of dinner parties the SBS host greets guests for bold and fearless conversations.

On This Gay Day | Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' is published

Orlando, Longtime Companion, Cleeve Jones, Jean Cocteau and much more in today's post.

Today is International Day Against the Death Penalty

Around the globe there are 12 nations that execute people who are LGBTIQA+

Madonna to release ‘Bedtime Stories’ demos with new EP

The singer has delved into the vault and found some long lost tracks.

City of Subiaco to help local creatives build their careers

Elise Wilson and Sophie Minissale will be sponsored to attend the BANDWIDTH Amplify program.

New Marc Fennell SBS series tackles the big topics

Over a series of dinner parties the SBS host greets guests for bold and fearless conversations.

On This Gay Day | Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' is published

Orlando, Longtime Companion, Cleeve Jones, Jean Cocteau and much more in today's post.

Today is International Day Against the Death Penalty

Around the globe there are 12 nations that execute people who are LGBTIQA+