BEIRUT (Middle East Eye) – A series of deaths in a Lebanese prison due to suspected virus infection has prompted calls for a probe, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper has reported.
Lebanon’s presidency asked its interior minister to “conduct an immediate and urgent investigation” to address a recent “health situation” after three people died last week in the Roumieh prison in the Matn district.
There were conflicting reports about the causes of deaths in the overcrowded prison.
A delegation from the detainees’ families visited government headquarters, where they met Judge Mahmoud Makiya, the secretary-general of the Council of Ministers.
The families told Makiya a mysterious virus had been killing the detainees, a source told Asharq al-Awsat.
The source added the government’s presidency “took the matter seriously and sent an urgent letter to the Minister of Interior to carry out an investigation and a medical examination of the prisons in which the virus is claimed to be present”.