Dania Shebaro
Daily Star staff Supporters of an imprisoned Free Patriotic Movement member were forced Monday to cancel a sit-in in front of the Roumieh prison protesting against his detention.
The sit-in in support of anti-Syrian activist Tony Orien was scheduled for 6pm, but Internal Security Forces turned 25 of his friends and family away when they arrived at 5.30pm.
The ISF reportedly got rough with the supporters, and Orien’s mother, Layla, fainted when the ISF shouted at her and slapped a 24-year-old protester.
“I only asked the officer to calm down when talking to Orien’s mother because she’s suffered from heart problems,” said Diana Haddad. “He slapped me across the face.”
She added: “Although the mother fainted, around 50 ISF members dragged her down the road, just like they did with us.”
Orien’s mother was taken to Abu Jaoude hospital in Jal al-Dib where she was treated in the emergency ward.
The Interior and Municipalities Ministry confirmed that Orien’s mother was hospitalized and said it was was opening an investigation into the incident.
Orien, 25, is on a hunger strike while he completes his six-month sentence for distributing flyers criticizing President Emile Lahoud and Syria.
According to supporters of Orien and exiled former Army Commander General Michel Aoun, Aoun called to tell her that she and Orien were doing the right thing and added that the struggle for their rights would continue.
Activist Paul Bassil, who was also arrested on Aug. 5 and recently released after paying LL1 million bail, also claimed he was beaten by ISF members at the site.
“The colonel hit the back of my head with the wooden stick of a flag after snatching it from my friend,” said Bassil en route for head X-rays.
Violette, mother of activist Antoun Harb who was arrested with Orien, was also present at the sit-in and at the hospital. She said her son was not arrested but “kidnapped on Aug. 5.”
“I support my son’s beliefs and actions, for I am the one who raised him on this nationalist foundation,” she said.
“He’s not demanding more than his national rights,” she said. “The national struggle won’t be stopped until the country becomes liberated.”
Orien’s supporters wanted to encourage the public to speak out against his imprisonment and insisted that he be visited by a doctor.
His supporters claimed that Orien slipped a letter out of prison and is being held in solitary confinement with only undergarments to wear as punishment.
They also asserted that, despite the fact that he started his hunger strike Thursday and stopped drinking water Saturday, no one has examined him.
The group Support of Lebanese in Detention or Exile released a statement later calling on state officials “to take immediate actions to stop these ugly actions against peaceful citizens, who only wanted to express their legitimate rights.”
The statement also described what happened in front of Roumieh prison “as violating the Constitution and human rights conventions.” |
