Prison Doors Are Open to Americans!

The Secretary of the Interior and Municipalities, Raya Al-Hassan, decided the day before yesterday to open the doors of the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces to the "International Bureau for Drug Control and Law Enforcement" of the US State Department, a few days after Minister Mike Pompeo visited Lebanon, calling clearly for "addressing Hezbollah's crimes and terrorism And his threats".

Through the launch of the program “Helping in the development of procedures adopted in Lebanese prisons” funded by the International Office for Drug Control, Minister Al-Hassan recognized that the classification of prisoners in Lebanon is an American specialty that requires an American training reference, and that the training program that the Americans are establishing is “no less important than "It is pursued by high-ranking countries in prison management." However, it appears that Minister El Hassan did not examine the competence of the company in charge of training the security forces. What we will prove in the following is that the process of classifying prisoners was not handed over to a company known for its academic qualifications in this field, and that there are many things that raise suspicions in this sensitive matter, security, intelligence, social, and judicial (despite the presence of the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation Judge Samir Hammoud the ceremony the day before yesterday) . It appears that no one in the General Directorate of Security Forces, or in the "Information" branch in particular, or in the Secretary's office, did not assign himself to collect accurate information on the entity that will be funded by the US State Department to train officers and clerics.

What is the US "AID" offered, and who will support the internal security forces in "developing the procedures adopted in Lebanese prisons"?

The Director General of the Internal Security Forces, Major General Imad Othman, explained the day before yesterday that the United States of America “as usual, thanks, through the INL office in Lebanon, initiated a valuable gift to provide a training program aimed at assisting the Internal Security Forces in providing professional work in prisons. This gift, which amounted to two and a half million US dollars, was required by the United States of America directly for RAI American Remote Aid International to implement this program.

When searching for information about this company, we did not find an impact as a company working in improving prison conditions, classification of prisoners, and training officers. Rather, what we found is that a company of the same name has its head office in Dubai and its official website ( https://rainternationalservices.com/ ). And it turns out that this company "provides large-scale services in the markets" without any limitation. And the text published on the website under the title "Services" adds: "We take a free land and build cities in it and provide services to its residents". We allow you and your colleagues to live comfortably in faraway places, and we operate mechanisms, installations and tools to let you focus on your business.

The official website of this company, which bears the same name as Major General Osman:

• It does not contain any information about services in the prison administration, prison classification, fair trial, rule of law, or even training police officers;
• There is no information about training services for officers and officers in it, and the company has not received any mention, certification or recognition of its competence and academic qualifications to carry out such tasks;
• He does not mention any practical experience in the field of prisons or the judicial police;
• Lebanon does not appear on the map of the places the company provides services ( https://rainternationalservices.com/locations/ );
• Most of the countries in which the company operates are located in Africa;
• Most of the services provided by the company are commercial and industrial services;
• The general manager of this company and the owner of the biggest stake in it is a Lebanese-British woman named Thoraya Narfield.

So how then, Major General Othman explains that a company that does not have a formal electronic address has no effect among the international institutions qualified to improve prison management and the training of its employees, or a company that does not have jurisdiction in this regard «will help a lot in training officers and elements working in prisons to do professional work towards prisoners And, in many ways, that would contribute to better controlling the prison situation through the necessary practical exercises to evaluate and classify prisoners properly and how to deal with them »? Was the (Power Point) offer presented by a person called "Sain Woolbridge" the day before yesterday, mentioned in the news of the National Information Agency as "the director of the" RAI "company, sufficient to obtain the approval of the director, the minister and the ambassador? Is it not legitimate to ask here whether there is a prior agreement in this regard for reasons that we do not know?

Othman said during the ceremony: "We are here today to officially launch this initiative and to confirm our commitment to implementing the law and adhering to its standards." But does legal norms not require those in charge of state institutions to scrutinize those commissioned by the US embassy (or any other foreign embassy) to train officers, ranks, and members of the security forces in Lebanon? Doesn't this require the slightest concern for national sovereignty and good functioning of the public facility?

Prisoners Classification Principles And Conditions

A simple classification process for prisoners already exists in the text of the Prison Regulation Decree (Decree 4949/1410), but it is not currently applied on the pretext of overcrowding and “family unification,” and because of interventions in the prison administration's work to bring some prisoners together in one room, one class, or a specific prison. The decree, which currently constitutes the first legal reference for prison administration, classifies prisoners as prisoners and detainees, juveniles and adults, male and female. It is true that this classification is not sufficient, and the prisoners must be separated according to their criminal, social, behavioral and psychological privacy, but this task calls for a sophisticated and accurate information network that provides detailed and correct information about each prisoner and every prison and its capacity according to the conditions of safety, health and security. In addition, setting standards for the classification of prisoners calls for the formation of a national committee that includes judges and security officers specializing in prison security, doctors, and experts in prison management, rather than using foreign standards that are not related to the local reality. It also requires taking into account cultural and social peculiarities, taking into consideration the profound knowledge of the relationship of society to the criminal justice system that exists in Lebanon.

More Use of the US State Department

Major General Othman continued his speech the day before yesterday, saying, "We are in the process of receiving a new donation made by the United States of America to implement a project called EP2 (expanded police professionalism program) at a cost of $ 9 million, which includes the construction of buildings and training equipment with the development of educational curricula at a strong institute Internal Security, in addition to training elements of the Internal Security Forces and qualifying them to become effective trainers in the various police techniques within a four-year plan.

Hezbollah Retreated by Training Officers?

Through a simple review of the work of the State Department's International Bureau for Narcotics Control, it turns out that one of its trends is based on a retreat from what Washington classifies as terrorists, as the following is mentioned in a paragraph titled "Training and Establishments": "The security forces were able to expand their operations in Lebanon to include Areas that were subject to the exclusive control of Hezbollah. In a paragraph entitled "Program Achievements," the following is stated: "The security forces were able to expand their operations in areas controlled by Hezbollah in southern Beirut and the Bekaa Valley."

Security Forces: "America's Closest Partner"

It seems that the American Ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard, is far from the reality of Lebanese society, as she announced the day before yesterday that "the internal security forces are one of our closest partners in the region" thanks to the provision of training "thousands of your officers, equipment and support at a value of 200 million dollars." The ambassador ignores the fact that thousands of officers, ranks, and members of the Internal Security Forces are keen on the cohesion of their institution and the Lebanese of all walks of life, and that American incitement against a significant group of Lebanese (Hezbollah) will not be heard.