Conflict Incident Report

BEIRUT: Around 200 people rallied outside the Military Tribunal in Beirut in continued efforts to secure general amnesty for their detained family members.

The detained are accused of a variety of offenses, ranging from drug to terrorism charges.

Protesters came from the northern city of Tripoli, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the southern city of Sidon.

"They were dragged into the fighting," one mother complained to LBCI, referring to the 2013 Abra clashes.

She said that the judiciary is becoming partial in Lebanon.

"Why are Israeli collaborators released, while our sons, who have been unfairly accused, are still in custody?” she said.

The families have been calling on Prime Minister Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun to grant the prisoners a general amnesty.

A general amnesty request must be put forward by the interior and justice ministers, and would also require approval by Aoun, who has the authority to accept or reject the proposal.

From the Bekaa Valley to Sidon and all the way to Tripoli, Lebanese have been demonstrating for a general amnesty law that would forgive hundreds of thousands of crimes.

It is an issue that covers the whole country. In Tripoli, weekly demonstrations take place as locals close roads to demand that their loved ones receive amnesty for their role in the clashes that shook the city in 2013 and 2014.

In Sidon, supporters of radical preacher Ahmad al-Assir rally every Friday after prayers to demand amnesty for family members charged with terrorism for taking part in the Abra clashes. Assir and his accomplices waged a three-day war against the Lebanese Army in Abra, east of the southern city of Sidon, in 2013. The fighting left 18 soldiers and some 40 militants dead.

A number of prisoners have been held without a trial.