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Conflict Incident Report

Aramoun police beat Syrian man suspected of belonging to Daesh

Date of incident: 
August 12, 2018
Death toll: 
0persons
Number of Injured: 
0persons
Actors/Parties Involved: 
Internal Security Forces (ISF)
Syrian Civilians/Refugees
Islamic State (IS); Daech *

A video of a Syrian man being beaten by local police in the Aley town of Aramoun circulated in local media Sunday, with the mayor saying the man was suspected of belonging to Daesh (ISIS).

Speaking to local TV station Al Jadeed, Aramoun Mayor Fadil al-Jawhari confirmed the veracity of the video, in which municipal police can be seen repeatedly slapping the man and pulling on his beard.

“I am against anyone being beaten, but it’s possible he was slapped two or three times in the face,” Jawhari said in the televised segment.

According to Jawhari, at around 10:30 p.m., on an unspecified day, night patrols found the man standing near a public school’s playground, in an area that connects Aramoun, Aley and Qabr Shmoun.

Local police thought the man looked suspicious due to “his beard and the state he was in” and asked him for his papers. The man did not have an identity card with him, so police took him in for interrogation. Jawhari said police found pictures of the man posing with a rifle on his phone, and accused the man of belonging to Daesh.

Some 30 minutes after the interrogation, police reported the incident to the ISF’s Information Branch in Aley, Jawhari said.

After the suspect was handed over, Jawhari claimed he was told that the suspect was indeed a Daesh member, but he added that the case was now in the “hands of the respective authorities,” who would investigate the allegations.

Primary category: 
Assault
Classification of conflict (primary): 
Border conflicts (Syrian border)
Violations, disputes and/or conflicts arising between rival armed groups along the Lebanese/Syrian borders which involve parties or militant groups from the Lebanese and Syrian side in both Lebanon and Syria. These conflicts also encompass transnational groups (such as faith-based regional groups, e.g. ISIS, al-Nusra Front) that cannot be considered as strictly Syrian, Lebanese or of any other national entity.
Classification of conflict(secondary):
Power & governance conflicts
Violent or non-violent conflicts associated with antagonisms related to internal political tensions between local and/or national groups and parties. These tensions may be encouraged by internal, regional and international parties. Such conflicts are characterized by their defiance and/or opposition to central State power and governance.