Prison break in Ghazir: Inmates breach wall, flee under cover of night

Report by Edmond Sassine, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi    

Nineteen detainees escaped from a holding cell at the Ghazir police station after breaching a wall near an air vent just beneath a security camera, security sources confirmed.

The breakout occurred shortly after midnight when the inmates created a distraction with loud noise from inside the cell to mask the sound of breaking through the wall. The breach allowed only those with smaller body frames to squeeze through the opening, leaving others who could not fit behind.

After slipping through the wall, the escapees used bed sheets—still visibly hanging from the breach—to descend into a rear garden behind the police station and fled the area.

The fugitives include 13 Syrians, five Lebanese nationals, and one Egyptian. All were being held for non-terrorism-related criminal offenses. Police in the nearby Jbeil district managed to apprehend one Lebanese escapee, but 18 others remained at large at the time of this report.

Military sources attributed the successful escape to the limited personnel on duty. The station's detention facility was supervised by only one officer and a small number of guards despite housing around 80 detainees. 

According to Lebanese law, such holding cells are intended to detain individuals for a maximum of four days. Still, many inmates have remained there for extended periods due to legal and administrative backlogs.

This is not the first prison break to occur in recent years. 

Similar escapes have occurred in Jounieh, Ehden, Amyoun, and Baabda, highlighting systemic issues within Lebanon's penal system. 

The economic crisis has exacerbated these problems, leading to severe overcrowding and a shortage of law enforcement personnel, as many officers leave the force or take on second jobs due to salary devaluation.

Further complicating matters, past escapes have involved allegations of collusion. In one 2023 incident in Ghbaleh, two inmates reportedly escaped with the help of officers who had been letting them out at night to steal cars before they eventually vanished. One of those escapees was later implicated in the abduction and murder of Pascal Sleiman in the town of Haqel in Jbeil.