A mother-of-three, Um Omar is in her mid-40s but the wrinkles and sad
look on her face make her seem like a much older, tired woman. She
wants to tell the story of her son but is fearful of retaliation by the
Lebanese military establishment in case she is discovered. Her name
has been changed to protect her identity.

Um Omar’s son was detained and tortured for three years, and then released at the age of 24 with no charges against him. She shares a grievance with many Sunni Muslims in the Middle East these days, not only in Lebanon.

“We
are victims in the war against terror,” Um Omar says, adding that in
her view Lebanese Sunnis have no leader to protect them.

“We are
oppressed – the Sunni leaders are only focused on their interests and
political gains, and they don’t protect us. [Hezbollah leader Sheikh
Hassan] Nasrallah protects the Shia Muslims. Walid Jumblatt protects
his people – the Druze – and our leaders only call for tolerance while
we face a constant crackdown by the government,” she protests, accusing
the military and state security apparatus.

Um Omar says many young
men, like her son, who are held in the infamous Roumieh high-security
prison in Lebanon, are at risk of getting radicalised because of their
harsh treatment in detention.

“These practices are pushing young
people to extremism. When we face such things we say it’s better to have
the Islamic State (IS) than the Lebanese state.

“Although we know
if IS comes here we may be the first to be killed but at least we die
once and for all, not a slow death like this.”

Harsh treatment

Roumieh prison in Metn district, east of Beirut, is one of the most notorious prisons in Lebanon.

In
2015, videos were leaked on social media showing prison guards beating
up prisoners. Many prisoners later rioted, calling for a change in
conditions. The situation only got worse after the war in Lebanon’s
neighbour – Syria – started.

Tripoli is a predominantly Sunni
city, where resentment and anger against the government is strong and
where many locals say the authorities’ attempts to fight terrorism seem
counter-effective.

“Any person, anywhere who faces injustice will
have a reaction – at least a psychological one – towards the oppressor,”
says Ahmad Statite, a former prisoner who spent a year-and-a-half
without trial, accused of belonging to radical groups, but ultimately
released without charge.

“In 2007, following tensions in the
Palestinian Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon, 50 people were
detained and tortured and accused of terrorist acts but then released
with no charges. One of them joined the Islamic State,” he said.

Ahmad is now working with a committee to support prisoners.

“A
very limited number will have a violent reaction to facing such
injustices, but we need the government to take the right steps to
prevent such a reaction,” he argues.

“Many Sunnis feel that they
are targeted and that the government is treating them differently to
Christians and Shia. Roumieh prison is full of Sunnis while, when it
comes to the Shia of Hezbollah, no-one can touch them even if they
commit crimes,” he claims.

As Lebanese society split between
supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Shia
Islamist militant group Hezbollah started sending fighters to back
President Assad’s forces.

“Members of Hezbollah are treated as
heroes when they get back to Lebanon, but it doesn’t seem the same case
for Sunnis who go to fight,” Um Omar tells me.

“Our sons are arrested when they come back from Syria, Hezbollah’s fighters are hailed as heroes.”

‘Huge problem’

There
is a general sense among Sunnis that they are paying a high price in
the war against terrorism and the rise of so-called Islamic State. Many
feel they are being tarred with the same brush and punished for what a
small group of extremists is doing.

Judge Mohamad Saeb, Senior
Advisor to the Minister of Justice, acknowledged there is an issue with
the way Sunnis are treated in Lebanon .

“Roumieh prison is a very
huge problem for the Lebanese government. It’s overcrowded; there are
nearly 4,000 prisoners there while its capacity is only for 2,000.

“The
Ministry of Justice is following this case and co-operating with the
Ministry of Interior, but all these efforts are not enough to end the
suffering of prisoners in Roumieh. With the cases of Islamists in the
prison, where the majority are Sunnis, many of them feel they are
treated unfairly – especially when some are left for two or three years
in prison without a trial,” he said.

Judge Saeb said things have improved in the prison but more needed to be done.

Tripoli’s top Sunni cleric Mohammed al-Shaar has called on the government to enforce rule of law.

“I
have no doubt that unfair treatment and investigations that violate the
rule of law, especially for young men, have inflamed the situation,” he
said.

“Holding prisoners for years without trial is against
human rights and it could create an atmosphere of heated reactions that
would lead people to clash with the government.”

The resentment
within the Sunni community is widely felt in a country that is defined
by sectarian divisions. With instability and war surrounding Lebanon,
many here argue that in order to avoid escalating tensions, reforms need
to be made, and soon.