Even Islamists Deserve The Rule Of Law
They may not look like us. They may not believe in man-made law. But they still deserve due process.
(Photo by AP. Mahmood Tawil)
Yesterday, in a sight that brought cold chills down many Lebanese spines, men and women clad in black overalls holding black flags with Islamic scriptures staged a sit-in in front of the military court in Beirut to protest the arrest of their family members.
The relatives in question had been rounded up by the Lebanese army two years ago in Tripoli during the Fateh el Islam insurgency in the North and have been kept in custody without trial since. Do the protesters have a fair case?
In a way, the event was clumsy. Whatever PR they sought by writing slogans in English was immediately overturned by the gloominess of their outfits. Also, some of their demands were downright silly. For example, they want “amnesty” for their “boys” because “many people have done wrong to the country and their sons were not arrested” as written in their statement. In other words what they are saying is “there are other bad guys out there so our bad guys shouldn’t be singled out”. Bogus.
But not all of their demands should be dismissed. A free and fair trial is a human right that everyone deserves including Islamists whose looks we don’t particularly like. Some of the men captured are dangerous terrorists, but some are also held there because of individual soldiers’ discrimination. Habeas corpus was invented to objectively tell the difference between the bad guys and the good guys, and there is no excuse for the courts to drag their feet.
Every Lebanese who likes to criticize Guantanamo Bay and the way the American government illegally treat their “enemy combatants” should look closer to home.
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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.
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The Daily Star article is making me dizzy. The militants have been held “for nearly two years without trial,” after being “arrested last year following the almost four-month battle between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese Armed Forces” at Nahr al-Bared. Huh? History has never been my forte, but I’m pretty sure I remember the Nahr al-Bared conflict ending last September — which makes it hard for militants to have been in prison two years for the crime.
But, never mind the time line (I assume the ones that have been there longer are al-Qaeda wannabes). You’re right, prisoners shouldn’t be held for either two years or one year without trial. Same goes for the generals still under arrest for their role in Hariri’s assassination. Let’s speed things up, please.
i love how mustapha is embarrassed of the outward appearance of his fellow tripolites. i’m sure some of his cousincs or cousins-in-laws are salafis who wear “black overalls!” steif, you are SO funny in your dire attempts at sounding american and not very muslim or arab at all, at least your appearance is not muslim or arab, eh steif? please mustapha, inform us how many combs you have and how often you sanatizethem in blue alcohol. how many times do you shave a day, in your futile infatuation at erasing any signs of a black beard? anyway, the important thing is that you are miltihi bi heik maskharat, while the true defenders are up at night guarding the border against the zionist donkeys, whom we will forever oppose and resist. so anyone else out there besides steif dreaming of having peace with your beloved israel??
hahaha hahaha hahaha haha ha hahaha hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
dear dadday dude, you’re SO funny in SO many ways. You made my day better – thanks. Ops, wait – you mean it, oh crap – I hope you don’t have kids with your bad genetic.
But while we’re here, I naively thought that the “true defender” of the borders was your favorite “action figure” – bashar himself. He’s truly a hero, after all, he’ll resist the zionist donkeys ’till the last lebanese donkey. We’re so close, that he would never detain lebanese people in hell-on-earth prisions, et bien sur, every lebanese person, party and militia would rise against it, n’est-ce pas ya 7imar ?
– sorry the rant mus :)
Ya shuga zabre, oops, I mean Daddy, can you come and entertain us everyday?
I am told you can’t, because the circus you belong to is lifting camp soon eh?
Hey Dave Long time!
@ Daily Star: Tell me about it! I even had to fix some typos when I was quoting the statement!
As for the generals, I am viscerally against letting them go, although perhaps to stay congruous I might want to accept such an eventuality..
As for the other guys,
Please try to keep this forum civil
What, no habeus corpus?
The problem is that our judicial system is rotten,and corrupted….Maybe it’s in some politicians benefit not getting those accused to a fair trial,coz they are involved…
Remeber”Every Accused Is Innocent Till Proven Guilty”….
And Steif those veiled women where encouraged before so they can fight “Wilayat L Fakih”,and do u still remember that there is a political partie,called 7ezb L Tahrir,that was legalized by Ahmad Fatfat,and that is totally illegal coz it doesn’t believe oppenly in Lebanon,and consider it a “wilaya” in the big islamic oumma…Why is this party is still doing all his activities oppenly,and in every tripolitain citizen’s face without anyone doing something to stop it….
“Habeas Corpus” can also be suspended when the security of the state is credibly at stake. There is a reason why these people are in jail, they conspired against the authority of the state (army and internal security) and I am pretty sure there is a case against each one. I am not against a fair trial, but there are times when those that don’t respect the rule of the law nor the virtues of a democratic society ought to get a dose of their own medicine!
ado, how can a country which has embraced Hezb ever end up with an incorrupt legal system? The country according to the newest dictates is now one big “resistance,” which precludes universal justice since there is this great big stay out of jail card. To try and build something real on top of that is a fool’s errand.
And of course before it was this it was that, and that, and that over there.
“there are times when those that don’t respect the rule of the law nor the virtues of a democratic society ought to get a dose of their own medicine!”
I think you’ve missed something here, VOR. Who, exactly, makes that decision? Who can be held accountable for it? If the answers are “no one” then are you not citizens in your own country, but merely puny subjects of the government?
It is hard to think this way after today’s explosion in Tripoli.
The question is, are we dealing with humans here? or barbarians?
Exactly Ali. These people have no concept of fairness or the slightest consideration for human life…to them human beings are to be used as cannon fodder to accomplish their “barbarian” schemes. How can you deal in fairness with people like that? We can’t as a nation, compromise with them, or else they’ll destroy us.
Solomon2,
Get off your high horse! I did mention the army and internal security forces which ARE responsible for enforcing the law and preserving the state from external dangers…they are under attack just because they represent the state’s authority to these mongrols.
Pardon me, VOR, I’m not “on a high horse”, I’m just ignorant! I didn’t ask who or what was responsible for “law and state preservation”, I asked is there some individual who can be held accountable for suspending HC, who can be fired if the people demand it? If so, by whom? Or is it somebody elected? (President Lincoln suspended habeus corpus for part of the American Civil War.) I understand that firing people with public-sector jobs in Lebanon isn’t always easy – that’s what prompted Hezb to hit the streets in May.
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