Blog
Myriam Dalal

Caught on Tape: Lebanese Police Beat and Bully Suspected Thief



A video has surfaced showing Lebanese security forces beating a young man suspected of stealing a woman’s purse in Jdeideh while riding his motorbike.

In LBC’s impressive graphic re-enactment of the scenario above, you can see the man taking the woman’s bag and then escaping en route to Sin El Fil. At some point, he knocked over an innocent bystander in the street. That’s when a taxi driver-turned-vigilante intervened, and ran over the thief with his car. He then got out of the vehicle and started beating the suspect who had a knife.

This is where the video of the policemen beating the suspect begins. Two men are seen holding the young man by his ponytail, beating his head and making fun of the fact that he has long hair. The young man hadn’t yet been handcuffed.

In June of this year, Human Rights Watch published a 66-page report detailing torture and abuse by Lebanese police. The state has attempted to reform the abusive behavior with a series of laws which have not been properly implemented.