TRIPOLI, Lebanon — The June 21 leaking of two videos showing the torture of Islamist prisoners in Roumieh prison by members of the Lebanese security forces has inflamed the Sunni street in Tripoli, north Lebanon, and underlined the widening gap between traditional political leaders and the young population, which appears to be being drawn further into extremism.
One of the two videos showed several prisoners stripped to their underwear, handcuffed and kneeling in a cell, where they are beaten by guards. A second video shows a handcuffed, bearded man being repeatedly beaten with a baton and forced to kiss his torturer's boots. The victims were identified as Sunni Islamist detainees held in Roumieh prison.