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Radical groups lure Tripoli youths

Leaked videos showing Lebanese security forces torturing Islamist prisoners in Roumieh prison have stirred the anger of Tripoli’s disaffected youths, pushing them further toward extremism.
Residents and family members of Islamist militants in Roumieh prison gesture during a protest calling for the release of Islamist militants detained by Lebanese forces, and criticizing the sentence duration of former Lebanese minister Samaha in Tripoli May 15, 2015. Samaha was sentenced on Wednesday to 4 1/2 years in prison for forming a group to carry out terrorist attacks.  REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim - RTX1D3SJ

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.

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