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.