Many prisoners were seen rioting inside Roumieh prison on Tuesday, demanding concessions and better living conditions, damaging several cells and injuring fellow inmates in the process.
According to reports, the riot started in Cell Block A, where convicted prisoners were been held, and the Internal Security Forces dispatched its Panther Unit - an elite unit - to prevent the situation from deteriorating. Security forces were able to quell the riot after several hours.
Nuhad Mashnuq, the Lebanese interior minister, dispatched his advisor for prison affairs to hear the demands of the prisoners.
Local media reports said the prisoners rioted against newly-introduced stricter regulation prohibiting the smuggling in of contraband.
A video which went viral on Sunday on social media sites revealed several security officers heavily beating inmates with green rods as they were forced to kneel half-naked on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs.
An officer were seen demanding an inmate to kiss his feet before kicking him in the face and then beating him with the rod. It is not confirmed that Tuesday's riot is connected to the videos.
Following the leak of the videos, both Lebanon's justice minister and interior minister came out and condemned the torture, vowing to hold those culpable to justice.
"The torture depicted in the videos is a crime in the eyes of the law, justice and humanity," said Ashraf Rifi, Lebanon's justice minister, on Sunday. "Any officer known to have had any involvement at all will be sanctioned."
At least five officers have since been arrested over their alleged involvement in the abuse of the prisoners.
"These videos are the tip of the iceberg, and torture in Lebanon has been documented for a while," a Human Rights Watch spokesperson told Al Jazeera.
"While it is great its finally getting attention, it's also time for the authorities to look at it from a broader scope and address the underlying issues, and introduce proper oversight and reform."
"Several times authorities have said cases are underway and detained people, but there’s never been any real follow up, so the government needs to keep on it, be transparent and keep informing the public," she said. "We welcome these statements made by the Lebanese officials, but they need to be more proactive and find solutions."
Mashnuq stated the videos were filmed following an earlier riot in the prison in April 2015, when prisoners rioted against the poor conditions they were being held in. During the riot they set their mattresses on fire and briefly took several officers hostage.
One of the prisoner gripes is the lack of speedy trials; hundreds of detainees have been held without trial for years. Many of those are Islamists who were arrested following the 2007 Nahr el Bared conflict between armed rebels and the Lebanese army in the Palestinian refugee camp. Over the last year or so, dozens more people were detained in security raids, suspected of being linked to 'terrorist activities' in the country.
The families of the detainees held protests on Sunday night in the northern city of Tripoli to protest against the torture, demanding justice to be served.
Roumieh is notorious for its poor conditions and overcrowding, and prisoners have rioted on several occasions in the past, the latest being in April.
