It's Part of the Job - The HRW Report on Gay Police Abuse is Out

For those who remember the "happy ending" of the arrest of GiL a couple years back, one tiny victory was the ability to meet with and speak to Human Rights Watch about the unfortunate event - essentially take part in the research they were doing, gathering statistics and testimonials about gay-related arrests in the country over the last 5 years.

The report titled "It's Part of the Job" (download it here) was presented yesterday; it paints a really dark picture of the current practices with gay men in police stations, which we already know but now are well proven and documented. Bottomline for GiBs: don't get into trouble. Oh and learn french.

Droits de l’homme

Quand la torture des détenus aux postes de police « fait partie du métier »...
Par Béchara MAROUN | jeudi, juin 27, 2013

« Le comité des droits de l’homme des FSI manque de personnel et n’a pas de réel pouvoir, tandis que la justice ignore régulièrement des plaintes concernant les violences policières. »
« Ils m’ont interrogé après m’avoir déshabillé. Ils ont versé sur moi de l’eau froide, m’ont attaché à un bureau au moyen d’une chaîne et m’ont suspendu par les pieds comme un poulet », raconte Mohammad à Human Rights Watch, qui vient de publier son rapport sur la torture des détenus vulnérables dans les postes de police libanais.
À l’occasion de la Journée mondiale de la drogue et de la Journée internationale de l’ONU pour soutenir les victimes de la torture, Human Rights Watch s’est cette fois intéressée au traitement par les Forces de sécurité intérieure (FSI) des détenus au sein des postes de police libanais, notamment les individus appartenant à des groupes marginaux, voire vulnérables, tels que les toxicomanes, les personnes qui exercent le sexe comme profession et la communauté LGBT (lesbiennes, gays, bisexuels et transsexuels).
Hier, un rapport de 66 pages a été publié par l’association qui œuvre pour les droits de l’homme. Se basant sur 52 témoignages de personnes arrêtées durant les cinq dernières années, car elles ont été soupçonnées de pratiquer l’homosexualité, le sexe comme profession ou d’usage de drogues, le rapport révèle au grand jour les mauvais traitements, l’abus et la torture subis par ces individus. Sur les 52 délits commis par les FSI, aucun n’a été vraiment puni.

Souffrances morales et physiques« Ils m’ont interrogé après m’avoir déshabillé. Ils ont versé sur moi de l’eau froide, m’ont attaché à un bureau au moyen d’une chaîne et m’ont suspendu par les pieds comme un poulet », raconte Mohammad, arrêté pour détention de drogues, dans son témoignage. « J’ai été suspendu par les pieds, mes mains liées à une barre de fer qu’ils m’ont fixée sous les genoux. Ils ont cassé toutes mes dents et mon nez, et m’ont frappé au moyen d’une arme à feu jusqu’à ce que l’os de mon épaule se disloque », a-t-il affirmé.
Ce genre de traitement n’est pas exclusif à un seul poste de police au Liban. Selon le rapport, les postes de Hobeiche, de Gemmayzé, de Baabda, de Mousseitbé, de Zahlé, d’Ouzaï, de Saïda, ainsi que le bureau de renseignements de Jdeidé et le local de prédétention de la prison de Baabda pour les femmes ont tous témoigné d’incidents similaires. Les formes de torture rapportées les plus communes sont les coups de poing, les coups de bâton ou des coups au moyen d’outils de fortune. Cannes, règles et bottes peuvent faire l’affaire. Sur les 52 personnes ayant témoigné, 17 affirment que les policiers ont refusé de leur donner à manger ou à boire, ou les ont privées de leurs médicaments. Neuf d’entre elles ont rapporté avoir été menottées aux cuves des toilettes. Onze ont été contraintes d’entendre les cris de souffrance d’autres détenus, et 21 des 25 femmes interviewées ont subi une certaine forme de violence sexuelle, allant du viol au harcèlement. Certaines se sont même vu proposer un rapport de police plus allégé si elles consentaient à coucher avec les policiers.
« L’abus au sein des stations de police est chose courante au Liban, mais il est pire quand il s’agit d’individus appartenant aux catégories vulnérables de la société, explique Nadim Houri, directeur adjoint de Human Rights Watch au Moyen-Orient. Et ce genre d’abus se poursuivra jusqu’à ce que le Liban mette un terme à la culture de l’impunité au sein de la police, qui se croit devoir donner une leçon aux détenus. » M. Houri a affirmé en outre que le rapport révèle que le statut socio-économique des détenus peut jouer en leur faveur. Parmi les témoignages, celui d’un professeur de l’AUB, accusé d’homosexualité et qui a été traité différemment par les policiers quand ils ont su sa profession. M. Houri a cité aussi le test anal comme l’une des pratiques violatrices des droits de l’homme et qui continue d’être utilisé dans certains postes malgré les recommandations de l’ordre des médecins. Il a enfin affirmé que les lois libanaises sont souvent violées, comme celle fixant la durée maximale de détention à 48 heures, ou celle permettant au détenu d’être assisté par un avocat.

L’absence de mécanismes de surveillance Pour sa part, Lama Fakih, chercheuse au sein de l’association, a noté, lors de la conférence organisée hier pour rendre public le rapport, que ce genre de traitement est dû à des législations inadéquates, à l’absence de structures efficaces pour porter plainte et à un système juridique basé sur les aveux. Cela pousse par exemple les policiers à exercer la torture pour obtenir les confessions des détenus. « Un officier de la police de Mousseitbé nous a déclaré que la torture est chose normale et qu’elle fait partie du métier », a affirmé Lama Fakih, qui a souligné que six personnes seulement parmi celles qui ont témoigné à l’association ont porté plainte à cause d’« un manque de confiance ». « C’est là qu’il faut appeler l’ordre des avocats à agir, a indiqué Nadim Houri, car la plupart des avocats ne conseillent pas vraiment aux détenus de porter plainte, d’autant que ces derniers prennent peur pour avoir commis une entrave à la loi, en étant homosexuels par exemple. La vulnérabilité de ces gens-là est donc sociale, mais aussi constitutionnelle. »
Human Rights Watch, déplorant un manque de mécanismes de surveillance et l’inefficacité de ceux déjà en place (comme le comité des droits de l’homme au sein des FSI), a appelé les autorités à créer des mécanismes transparents pour recevoir les plaintes des citoyens et à obliger les policiers à arborer des badges portant leurs noms afin que les détenus sachent avec qui ils traitent. L’association a aussi revendiqué à l’adresse des autorités judiciaires plus de fermeté, des directives claires à ce sujet, et a demandé la création d’un organisme indépendant pour les investigations et la surveillance des crimes de torture. « Les pays donateurs doivent aussi s’assurer que les fonds octroyés sont usés à bon escient et demander des comptes », a souligné Lama Fakih. De son côté, Nadim Houri a enfin estimé que la réponse des institutions concernées au rapport présenté « n’est pas suffisante ». « Elles reconnaissent l’existence du problème, mais il n’y a pas de vraie volonté de réforme, précise-t-il. Il est pourtant plus important aujourd’hui d’améliorer l’attitude des membres des FSI que la qualité de leur équipement. »

Ghostly Ambiguity

Not a day goes by lately without gay matters making headlines on the global news channels.

The same can be said about the newsstreams coming out of Lebanon, except in our case it’s not about another country opening up marriage rights to same-sex couples or the world’s first official coming out of a major sport’s professional athlete.

On the contrary. As the world progresses steadily on same-sex issues, Lebanon keeps on regressing, one little step after the other.

The top gay-related headline these last few days is about the violent police raid of the Ghost Bar nightclub (the little brother of belated Acid nightclub) that took place last week.

The short-term arrests of 3 people and the humiliating treatments that followed have spurred all kinds of reactions in the media – a mixed bag nicely covered in G-Azzi’s post “With or Against Us”.

Photo taken from L'orient le Jour's website

But as gay rights defenders counter-attack, and as the issue spills over into the broader gay-friendly and human rights community, it does seem that the officials involved such as Dekwaneh Mayor Antoine Chakhtoura  and minister of interior Marwan Charbel are not getting away without virulent criticism on their homophobic attitude.

One of these media reactions I find particularly interesting: Murr TV. Why so, because (it might just be a rumor but) word has it that its presenter Joe Maalouf JUST GOT FIRED from MTV. 

The irony being that, for once, Maalouf had taken in his latest show “Enta Horr” a relatively moderated, less homophobic stance on the Ghost intervention than he had in the past - a new episode well covered here by the folks at Blog Baladi.

This time again, in what is probably a perfect reflection of the society's reaction in general, MTV has just blown away every possible record of ambiguity. 

A humoristic picture that's been circulating. But what if
it's true the guy just got fired?

Or, perhaps one could argue it's actually the exact contrary of ambiguity: 

That by firing Joe Maalouf, MTV management has decided to get rid of any left ambiguity (remember the “counter-accusations” of Joe Maalouf being gay) on where it stands on gay matters. 

I just wish we, as a people, would get even the slightest opportunity to express ourselves on the Big Gay Question through a national vote or something. 

I know the results would probably be bitter to swallow, but nevertheless sweeter than all this media and political nonsense we're  having to take in.

Discrimination v/s Dignity: 0-1

Nothing beats the satisfaction of winning over illegal practices through successful legal action; the pride of fighting humiliation with dignity; the relief of countersriking discrimination with an earned human right.

The sad episode of Cinema Plaza finally allowed just that. By triggering a host of indignation and anger in the civil, legal and medical communities, it accelerated the efforts started two months ago following another scandal from the "morality police".

The campaign that started it (below) and the body
that made it happen (above): a perfect combination!

As of Tuesday, August 7, 2012, the ANAL TEST has become ILLEGAL in LEBANON. This “Examination of Shame” ordered by the torturers of Hbeich and conducted by its corrupt medical examiners can now be subjected to legal proceedings on behalf of the detainees, and the physician can be banned from practicing medicine.

No more excuses can ever be made by anybody including the ministry of Justice, who blamed the delay in passing the Circular over to the concerned parties more than one month ago on an “administrative error”.

This is what keeps the sit-in organized by Helem this coming Saturday August 11 at 10 AM in front of the Ministry of Justice, still very relevant despite the win.

Lebanon’s LGBT and friends cannot but be thankful to the lawyers and doctors at Helem and at the Lebanese Order of Physicians (L’Ordre des Médecins du Liban, currently headed by Dr. Charaf Abou Charaf) for this victory.

Everyone’s now hoping for more to come. With election season coming up mid of next year there seems to be good momentum right now for the logical next step to this latest win: to abolish Article 534 once and for all. Let’s make it happen!

Another Call to MP Moukheiber

Wanted to highlight another open letter to MP Ghassan Moukheiber that was published last week in French daily L’orient le Jour. Lines up well with Dr K’s Open Letter from last year. Hoping for a clear RSVP this time.

Beirut Boy said it better than I dare say. You get the picture.
(BB's Sept.3 post)

MP's, it’s 2012 time has come to revise rotting laws like this one.

A law inherited from another age.

A law that impairs individual liberty.

A law sporadically abused for shady reasons.

A law that allows Hbeich staff to act like masters of torture.

A law that continues to make many innocent people’s lives miserable.

--Gib

Abolissez l’article 534, Monsieur MoukheiberPar Nabil FAYED | 31/05/2012 OpinionVous êtes l’élu d’une circonscription précise, mais on peut aussi vous considérer comme représentant tous les Libanais. Vous êtes de plus le rapporteur de la commission parlementaire des Droits de l’homme, et c’est à ces deux titres que je m’adresse à vous pour vous entretenir d’un sujet qui gâche la vie de dizaines de milliers de vos compatriotes : le code pénal libanais qui, dans son article 534, punit d’un an de prison les homosexuels.
Ils se retrouvent donc parqués avec des criminels, des trafiquants, des gens qui ont enfreint la loi, et ce dans des conditions déplorables.
Le dictionnaire dit que l’homosexuel est celui qui éprouve une attirance pour une personne du même sexe. Il n’est question ni de perversion, ni de délit, ni de crime.
Sans aller jusqu’à faire l’historique de l’évolution du regard que la société a jeté sur l’homosexualité, je cite deux dates : en 1974 le DSM4 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), qui est l’ouvrage de référence des psychiatres américains, a supprimé l’homosexualité de la liste des maladies mentales (déjà il n’était plus question de délit ou de crime). L’OMS, en 1991, a emboité le pas. Mais tout cela semble relever de la préhistoire....
On dira que modifier la loi ne changera pas les mentalités. Mais il faut bien commencer quelque part. On commence par modifier la loi, les mentalités suivront avec plus ou moins de retard. Un député courageux (Samy Gemayel) a ainsi réussi à obtenir l’abolition de la loi qui punissait les coupables des « crimes d’honneur » de peines symboliques. Ces glorieux coupables égorgeaient quasi impunément leurs sœurs si elles avaient eu une liaison sexuelle en dehors du mariage, ce qui revient à supprimer une vie pour un acte qui ne porte préjudice a personne !
L’Orient-Le Jour a publié il y a quelques jours l’histoire de trois jeunes gens arrêtés par la police parce que l’un d’eux avait les traits « fins ». Ils ont été livrés au poste de Hobeiche pour subir un examen médical alors que, de l’aveu même des médecins, ce genre d’examen ne prouve rien. Voilà où nous en sommes en 2012 alors que le président des USA a déclaré il y a quelques jours qu’il appuyait le mariage homosexuel et l’adoption d’enfant par ces couples. D’ailleurs, la plupart des pays évolués ont adopté cette politique. Même l’Argentine, réputée machiste, reconnaît maintenant le mariage homosexuel. Oh ! Les homosexuels libanais n’en demandent pas tant, ils souhaitent simplement la dépénalisation de l’homosexualité et la suppression de l’article 534.
Monsieur le député, vous êtes quelqu’un dont la réputation de probité n’est plus à faire. Et rien ne faisait peur à votre oncle, l’indomptable Albert Moukheiber. Prenez donc l’initiative de présenter un projet de loi abolissant l’article 534. Le Liban a tout à gagner de cette initiative. Il est probablement inutile d’énumérer ici toutes les vexations et les humiliations qu’affrontent les homosexuels dans notre pays, de rappeler que leur logement et leur travail sont continuellement précarisés par leur statut d’homosexuel. Il faudrait que cela cesse. Au secours ! Vous irez dans le sens de l’histoire et vous gagnerez la reconnaissance de beaucoup de gens malheureux.
Respectueusement.
Nabil FAYED

The Gay Gift of Blood

Twice in the last few months I had to go to a hospital’s blood bank to donate blood, once for a friend and once for a relative. As I was doing some googling on the topic I stumbled on one, then more and more articles talking about a “Gay Blood Donation Ban” existing in many countries. "wtf?!", I thought.

Turns out this ban has been, and remains an active area of debate today: latest case in point, a few months ago the British government decided to lift the ban on gay men who have not had sex for ten years prior to donating blood, calling the ban discriminatory and considering it a possible breach of the “Equality Act”.

From what I can tell Lebanon seems miles away from this level of debate around discrimination or equality, and for that matter from this kind of health policies. The Lebanese version of the blood donation questionnaire may be intense and exist only in Arabic, but it does not seem to touch explicitly on the gay issue.

The closest it actually gets to the topic, amidst many yes/no questions about current and past medications and conditions, was this one:

إقامة علاقة أو علاقات جنسية متعددة و مشبوهة؟  (Translate: “Did you have numerous and suspicious sexual interaction(s)?”)

As I was filling out the questionnaire I kind of froze on that one…

Were all my recent sexual interactions considered as “suspicious” because as a sexually active gay guy, they were with other men? In fact, what counts as “numerous” interactions? Or, is the question geared more towards safe / protected sex?

Well then, since this all seemed so subjective I ended up going with my own assessment for “numerous” and my own definition of “suspicious”, and candidly checked the “No” box.

I knew that the first thing they’d do before using my blood is to test it for things like HIV and HPV, but I still felt a little bad about lying because I know these diseases have a latency period, that they are more frequent among gay men, and that they are probably the reason behind the gay ban to begin with. Even though I'd tested myself about 6 months earlier, I know I'm never too far away from the “risk zone”.

Digging a little more in the issue I found on their Website that Donner Sang Compter Lebanon is more explicit and more discriminating about the gay issue. It states clearly that you should not give blood if “You have had an unprotected sexual activity with multiple partners” or if “you are a man who has had sex with another man (even if protected)"… some food for thought.

The 24 hours after donating blood are always a bit stressful. Not so much for its physical impact, but because any unknown number appearing on your cell phone could mean bad news from the blood bank’s test results… thank god and my guardian angel the damn phone never rang.

Yorgui Teyrouz’s story at Beirut TED Talks 2011 of how he

came to found Donner Sang Compter in Lebanon was so touching 

it brought tears into my eyes and the whole audience’s.

But it seems that as much as a gay guy would want to be a “hero”, his adherence to the cause cannot go a long way

for the mere fact of being gay. I thought it important to shed light on this issue

when I saw that Donner Sang Compter was doing a fundraiser at the

next C U NXT SAT party at Art Lounge.

-- pic, post by Gib#2

Keep Your Dirty Hands Off Of Me!

Can the gay community in Lebanon be anything but sensitive to the new ad campaign against torture launched recently by ALEF (Act For Human Rights)?

The campaign's billboard: "Their Suffering is Not Comfort"
- inspired by an Arabic saying.

According to the first-hand experience of GiL, whose 7-post series on GiB re-counts his seven day-long arrest and detention (and future indictment?) under gay related accusations, it would seem that it is no longer customary to torture gay guys who are arrested in Lebanon’s detention centers.

Well he might have been just lucky.

Apart from the living conditions and the length of his detention, GiL was not treated through physical violence, although he certainly did undergo psychological pressure and humiliation.

But what if GiL had been less cooperative with his persecutors, when he signed without resistance their own – and inaccurate – version of his deposition?

What if GiL had used more of a defensive strategy, if he had been more aware of his civil rights?

What if GiL had been more aggressive if he had realized in time the injustice he was a victim of?

And most importantly, what about the physical violence he witnessed with some of his cell mates, who were charged with various drug and sex related crimes? They probably weren’t the sophisticated torture practices that you hear about in horror stories, but many of his co-detainees did receive that huge slap in the face.

For some, their bruises, their muteness spoke for themselves.

As for those detainees that did not go back to their cell after their interview, whatever happened with them remains a big question mark…

Now if that’s the standard of care at the Hbeich police station, the bête noire that has been under high scrutiny by the NGOs, one can only imagine what the standard practices look like in the less visible vaults of our prisons and detention centers.

With that in mind, we GiBs cannot but adhere to the cause. The problem is blatant and it’s big, it’s barbarian and it’s bad. For if even just one person gets tortured in Lebanon because of his or her sexual orientation, then it’s in our duty to show all our support to ALEF, Restart, Human Rights Watch and many others who are putting their best efforts to...

MAKE IT STOP.

by GiB#2, with comments from GiL

Cut the Crabs

I'm finally over it enough to talk about it, that time I got the crabbies.

"Use a Condom or Masturbate" - Poster for
a safe sex campaign in San Francisco.

Flashback to this early phase in my sex life. I've recently broken up with my boyfriend but we’ve stayed close, with travels in between. Technically single the whole of last month I’ve been screwing around like a madman. Even with this guy from msn last week who must have been scratching his crotch everytime I wasn’t looking.

Now I’m sitting here on the couch and my ‘ex’ is kneeled down in front of me. No, he’s not blowing me to try and revive our flame; he’s holding a magnifying glass, wearing the eyeglasses he never wears, and scrutinizing my pubes. Plunging his nails under every infested hair pulling out each crab as I look away in disgust.

A glamorous sight indeed. Though in this moment of despair, he meant the world to me.

The little brown dots on the kleenex sheet next to me. They're starting to move around. They're live insects that were just there hanging on my pubes feeding on my blood. A whole bunch of them like a virus infection. They’ve even laid down eggs that are about to hatch. In French, ‘morpions’ reminds of nasty sex jokes while ‘la gale’ sounds like middle age diseases like ‘la peste’ or ‘la rage’. I feel like the dirtiest man on the face of the earth right now. I’m gonna puke.

To make things worse, I must have had them several days already, even though it's only today that the itching became so unbearable, enough for me to tell my ex I suspect something. So I must have contaminated that other hookup from two days ago. He will be cursing me next week.

If crabs are a common episode in many gay guys’ early trials and tribulations, and relatively manageable, they forced me to face the reality of random gay sex and sexually transmitted diseases and infections. Here was one for me with horrendous names to cope with like crabs lice or scabies, and that even the condom wouldn’t stop... one you can only prevent by being 'pickier'.

But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger now doesn’t it? Well I’m glad I killed the little bastards that time around.

-Post, pic by GiB#2

Part 7/7: “Ya Bash!” – Lessons Learned

“Ya Bash!”

That was probably the sound I heard most often during my weeklong stay. The sound echoes on the floor anytime a detainee tries to get the guard’s attention, be it for a cigarette, for food, for a status check, or because some detainees are pulling up a fight.

No shutting up! Speak out like these flower burgeons
on a blossoming tree in Geitaoui

Turns out “Bash” comes from “Pacha” and dates back to the times of the Ottomans, who ruled Lebanon in the early 1900’s and to whom we owe much of our carceral system today. No wonder then that the system seemed so archaic seen from the inside.

Besides getting acquainted with Jail culture, Jail etiquette and Jail jargon (as mastered like no other by this underground rap band called “Irhab” from Roumieh), I also had enough time to digest quite a few lessons that I hope will keep me on the safe side in the future:

We live under a corrupt Justice system…

Yes, we already knew that, but as much as I’d heard about it before I was still shocked to see it at work from the inside. If you get arrested in Lebanon, the legal limit on detention time (up to 48 hours) without getting a hearing, exposing the charges and proofs against you or speaking with a lawyer, simply does not always apply. You can linger in for days and weeks before they even turn to your case, especially if you don’t take the proper steps to get help from the outside. And even more than in our society in general, socioeconomic class plays a huge role in the kind of treatment we get and whether our rights are secured or not.

… where you really need to have your ass covered

Getting help from the outside in such an emergency situation meant I had to involve my family into the details of my case. They in turn had to attempt anything and everything to get me out of there, like trying to call Someone who knows Someone or hiring a “good” lawyer – and making 2,000$+ readily available for it. Ideally, I would already have a lawyer’s contact that I would have called myself. Getting this kind of help is the only way out of the rotten structure, for the system’s so corrupt that one guy can make it all the way to Roumieh to serve a jail sentence, while for the same exact charge another guy might get out straight from the courthouse without even a hearing with the judge.

… where they won’t hesitate to intimidate you

During what probably added up to 4 hours of interrogations and filling out endless sheets of Q&As in my deposition, my interrogators added a number of twists here and there to my own version of the events, sugarcoating it at places especially the beating part. I ended up signing on a declaration that I did not entirely agree with. While this probably spared me some physical torture in Hbeich, some others’ interrogations did not go as softly as mine. As for mental pressure, I did have to cope with the humiliating remarks of some of the guards, and almost broke down on my first day in the basement of the courthouse in Baabda, the closest place to Hell on Earth I ever experienced. I was lucky I did not catch the eye infection that many of us were starting to get.

… where drugs can aggravate any other case

Urine tests seem to have become commonplace in the detention centers, the airport and other security checkpoints. They can test you for THC (cannabis), cocaine and morphine regardless of whether you are being arrested for a drugs-related issue or not. That a test comes out positive from smoking up in the last month or snoring a line in the last couple days, would aggravate any other case with the heavy charge of ‘drug consumption’ (ta3aati), a charge that remains on criminal records for 2 or more years. And that’s regardless of which kind of drug it was, how much of it, how long ago, if it was found on you at the time of arrest… and even what country you were in when you used it!

… where homosexuality is still considered a real crime

Yes there is a flourishing gay scene in Lebanon, yes Beirut is full of horny guys and gay sex is everywhere, yes Beirut boasts loads of gay friendly places from bars to clubs to hammams to cruising spots, you name it, it has it all... So much that we tend to forget at times that it also has Article 534 of the Constitution, the law that makes homosexuality illegal in Lebanon, a law we keep in mental denial like only we Lebanese know how to. Most of the time it seems like this law is collecting dust in some chief officer’s drawer, but yet in other instances like in my case (which may be exceptional, I don’t know) it seems like they just take it off-hold and use it sporadically, like a joker card they can pull out anywhere, anytime.

… and we need to do something about it!

Seven packs of cigarettes, seven days and seven nights later, looking like shit, smelling like shit and feeling like shit, I’m finally out and back home. Apart from the scars, it already feels like a bad dream and I could easily act as though nothing had happened, call it a bad week and slowly forget it – But some good friends are telling me that maybe it happened for a reason and I have to do something about it. So I decided to write it down on GiB, share it with the local organizations such as Helem and Human Rights Watch to support their upcoming report on police brutality, and consider filing a complaint. Was this a courageous or a suicidal thing to do, a good thing for me and with a positive impact on the community or another drop of sand in the Sahara, and do I have this freedom of speech in Lebanon today... I guess I’ll have to wait to find out!

-- By GiL. Photo by GiB#2.

Part 6/7 – My Own 12 Angry Lebanese

I met my 12 Angry Lebanese during a week’s time spent locked up in three different detention rooms, trying to stay clean, well fed, positive and friendly – maybe even trying to make the best out of it. Every day had its share of hellos and goodbyes as some of us went out and new people came in. We shared a tiny space, a disgusting toilet, junk food, personal stories. Solidarity between convicts is something that comes naturally and is touching at times – Not everyone had enough money for food, or relatives sending them supplies.

This one goes out to these 12 and to all the others, some of whom made it out before reaching prison, some others probably up in Roumieh by now. Let this series of portraits also be yet another standing ovation to Zeina Daccache for her most moving and inspiring work with “12 Angry Lebanese” – a tribute to the thousands of people living through the horrors of Lebanon’s jailing system day in and day out, whether they’re experiencing it first-hand (the prisoners) or second-hand (their relatives).



29 year-old Mazen whom I met over in the “Mores” floor. An average Joe, a good guy, Mazen fell to the exact same modus operandi that they used on me. He was the first catch for that night, I was the second. When I could finally open my mouth to speak past the first night, we found support in each other. He made it out in about 3 days because he was clean on the drug test.


40 year-old rich kid from Cairo and his girlfriend are speeding through the security check at the airport as they’ve started calling their names for boarding, carrying loads of Champagne from the Duty Free. But remains of coke in a straw which was cut in half and forgotten in a box of cigarettes, added a prison stay to the couple’s 5-day non stop Orchid/Skybar Beirut marathon.


17 year-old Mohammed from DaHiye gets caught with 114 carefully packed one-halves of Freebase. Says business has been good lately, and that he’s been making up to $12k a month. Now he’s absolutely certain that it's the militia running up his neighborhood that sold him off to that other gang who busted him. But Mo’s almost happy to know that his next stop is Roumieh: he’ll be joining his four older brothers who are already in, and who continue to do their business from within.

Zeina Daccache's theater play "12 Angry Lebanese"
and the related documentary: Two must-sees.

28 year-old Rami is in for the eighth time. Says the fourth day without heroin is the most critical, that the withdrawal symptoms are worst. His stomach won’t take in anything. He’s vomiting water. Rami knows all the guards by now, and does a great job at guessing which one of us is getting sent up to Baabda next. Rami has never done a proper rehab, only 8 prison stays. Each and every time after he got out, he’s gone back to H.


19 year-old Karim’s car gets searched over and over again at a checkpoint, as though they knew there was something. The hair of his two friends and his looked too crazy indeed not be hiding something. The cop finally finds a tiny piece of hash: it’s the leftovers of these university students’ first-joint-ever. The three friends came in knowing virtually nothing about this world, but got out a week later from what felt like a crash course in Criminology and Toxicology.


38-year old family man Salim is so coked up when he gets thrown into the room at 4am that his eyes are shining in the dark. We are 8 people in a 10m2 room trying to get some sleep, but he won’t stop talking to whoever seems to be awake. Salem’s stories are so hard to believe it’s almost funny, but there must be some truth to them as he did end up spending time in each of the Drugs floor, the Mores floor, and the Gambling floor.


80-something year-old Abou Mezher is brought down from his village somewhere up in the mountains still wearing his gardening clothes. He was arrested in his own garden where it turned out he’s been growing one marijuana plant next to each plant of tomatoes. He calls it l nabte shareefe (the Plant of Honour) and has been making a living off it for years, but that’s probably the end of his little family business.


21 year-old Johnny has been helping his entire village get through the hurdles of official exams and paperwork, by forging legal signatures and documents. He’s been doing it for years now and has become such an expert at printing and faking techniques, he might be headed for a big career. While his crime appeared to be pretty big in terms of social impact compared to some others’, he was the first one to come out and without even a hearing (da3wa).


15-year old Abboudi has been away from his house for weeks. He’s still too high on Rivotril and Benzoxyl when he gets picked up, that he’s unable to recall why he’s getting arrested this time around. Something to do with Abou Ali, his older brother from another mother and also his drug dealer. As his fiercest protégé, Ahmed likes to hang out with Abou Ali all the time, it feels so light and mellow when he’s around, and all that counts is he is with him now.


35 year-old Abou Ali is the Pablo Escobar of his district, but only for prescription pharma drugs. Over the 15 years of his 5 past imprisonments, he has accumulated so many scars on his body that – by his own words – he looks like a zebra. Based on jail experience he’s found self mutilation to be the best way to keep the staff away. Abou Ali doesn’t mind pissing outside the hole despite the smell, and telling Hassan to clean after him.


16-year old Palestinian boy Hassan looks after everyone, keeps the room tidy and organized, even cleans the “bathroom” after Abou Ali, spreads the good mood. Hassan says he shouldn’t be here, that they’re trying to make him admit of raping a mute child from his neighborhood, and that he has no clue where they got this crazy idea from.


And last but not least…

50-something year old Umm Omar, mother of four, mother of all convicts, the only feminine presence around. She kept us well fed throughout the day and smoking cigarettes that she would smuggle in for us. Umm Omar makes a decent living as the cleaning lady to the floor, and also gets bonus reselling us goodies from the snacks and stores around Bliss street… at 50% percent premium.


(all stories as told, names were changed)

--by GiL. Photo by GiB#2

Part 5/7 – From Remorse to Revolt

“I did my time… time and again…”

The line from Queen’s “We Are the Champions” is in repeat in my head for about 36 hours by now, and I still haven’t talked with anyone yet it's like they forgot about me in there. Oh yes I did tell the guard “No” when he came asking if someone wanted to use the single phone call we're allowed to. Of course they would be the ones making the call, and I can't trust them talking to my parents on my behalf.

I’m taking on me.

"I’m doing time for all the times I’ve done similar things before. For every time I’ve taken these kinds of risks, even greater ones sometimes. For every time I’ve had sex in the car, for every time I’ve smoked a J in the car. For all those times I crossed fingers at the darak checkpoint, high as a kite."

"I’m doing time for every time I’ve succumbed to each one of these two vices of mine."

The voice in my mind is jumping three languages but it’s saying the same thing over and over:

“I’m a fag and a junkie. Ana Loote w 7eshesh. Je suis un pédé et un drogué”.

I’m about to get punished for both vices, at once. Two in One. I’ve been playing with the devil for too long, as though to force this destiny, and look what’s happened. "You ruined your life. You happy now?”

Still taking on me. The hours seem endless, the mental maturbation is becoming unbearable.

Until finally hours later at the sound of the early morning adaan, the only indication of time since last night, my tears suddenly go dry – And those would be my last tears until I hugged my parents a week later outside the courthouse in Baabda.

For in a moment of clear consciousness, I started to wonder:

“Wait a minute here. Forget the drugs for a second and try to keep it down to the facts. What did I just get arrested for, what the hell was my crime?  The only real facts are: 1) I picked up a guy from the street in a cruising area and 2) I admitted to him that I MAY have sexual intercourse with him because I made it sound LIKELY I’ve had gay sex in the past.

That’s it.

There were NO talks whatsoever about money, which would make me liable under sex-for-money charges. There was NO sexual contact between me and the guy whatsoever, which would make me condemnable for having gay sex in public. There were NO drugs involved at that point.

It’s clear to me today: To put a long story short,

On a random night of 2010 in Beirut, I was ARRESTED FOR BEING GAY.


--by GiL. Photo by GiB#2 from a bookstore in Paris

Part 4/7 – Hbeich It Is

I’m now in the back seat of their car, what’s left of my T-shirt red with blood. We’re finally having a conversation but I still have doubts they’re truly from the police as they’re saying. I’m trying to behave as a good boy, and allude to the fact that I’m willing to give them “anything they want”, but not getting a clear answer.

I’m getting driven through Beirut, and I soon figure out I’m headed to the Hbeich detention center – the infamous Hbeich that I’d heard so many horrors about during college.

Hbeich's floor arrangement – Ground floor is 

'Storage house for the Drugs department’ (!!), 

'Mores' on 2nd, ‘Drugs’ on 4th, ‘Gambling’ on 5th,

‘Civil Matters' on 7th

Up two floors and into a hallway, they make me take off my pants and confiscate them (I later learned it’s because I could use the strings that serve as a belt to hurt myself). Then they make me strip off naked and do ten sit ups, in case I’m hiding something in there. Finally they push me into a cell where two other guys are asleep, in that unbreathable smell of urine.

Hours later, my head is still buried under my shirt as I’m desperately trying not to breath the smell. Occasionally I stick my nose through the tiny window opening in the door, which serves both as the only contact with the outside world (them) and the only air ventilation for the room.

I feel humiliated and miserable like never before, and still don’t realize what’s going on. It must be around 5 am when life takes yet another strike at me. Between two sobs, it sounds so quiet outside that I can hear the sound of my car coming out from the street: it’s this unmistakable noise that it’s been doing when I drive it at low speed.

Oh great. Now they’ve brought my car over. They’re gonna search it down. They’re gonna find the little piece of hashish I forgot in the hand compartment. I’m gonna be in for drugs too. I’m gonna be in months. Someone please help me die. I burst into tears.

--by GiL. Photo by GiB#2

Part 3/7 - Abduct a GiB

Him: “Make a right here. Keep going. Now park here this is a good spot.”

Me: “But there’s cars that pass by this street!”

Him: “Don’t worry they can’t see anything if your headlights are off.”

Me: “But dude THEIR lights are on, so THEY can see us.”

Him: “Don’t worry here’s good”, he says as he lights up a cigarette. “Just turn off your lights”

A guy comes out of the shade and is now approaching my car from across the street.

Me: “Funny looks like this guy’s coming to pee next to the car he hasn’t seen us here!” I say in way of joke.

But the guy outside keeps getting closer and closer to the car. He’s now speeding up his pace.

The Slap - from an Amsterdam Graffiti

[PAUSE HERE] Of the whole experience following what is about to happen, this is the one moment that still gives me chills today: It is the precise moment when I figured out what was going on, while it was too late to take off.

“Oh no please don’t tell me this is what I’m thinking, please don’t tell me this is happening to me”, I think to myself. Next thing I know the guy outside is grabbing my shirt through the window and giving me my first slap in the face. The one sitting next to me, who for a second had pretended he was unbuttoning his jeans, is now lending him a hand.

The slapping is non-stop and getting more intense as I start screaming, screaming as loud as I can. In my head and as far as I could tell from these guys dressed in civil and from the way they set me up, there is no doubt I am getting abducted and/or stolen my car and things. I’ve heard this scenario more than once before.

The two guys have dragged me out of my car by now. I throw myself on the floor. They’re trying to get me inside a white Toyota with a civil plate, they won’t stop hitting and I won’t stop screaming. They’re trying to quiet me down and tell me something but I can’t hear anything. There’s cars that pass by every minute or so, but they seem to ignore my screaming so bad that it really feels like I’m in a nightmare.

One of them is finally able to handcuff one of my hands. If they get the second one on, I’m done. I must resist. I’m fighting back as much as I can, I even bite one of the guys as hard as I can. It must have been about 20 slaps in the face so far, I’m completely detached from by body at this point, my whole body feels numb. I can taste my own blood but I still find the time to check with my tongue if my teeth are still in place.

And then comes the grand finale, a proper Hollywood-style punch in the eye. Within a split second my eye feels swollen and blind. I finally surrender to my two aggressors.

--by GiL. Photo by GiB#2

Part 2/7 – Ambush a GiB

The man standing on the curb looks like he’s coming straight out of Mr Lebanon's cast. Tall, muscular, handsome, and just standing there, at night, by himself.

I’m on my way back home but wait, this guy looks hot as fcuk. Plus this is the Freeway cruising area so he has to be up for some fun. Wow he’s even giving me the look now, that unmistakable look.

It’s kinda weird though, I could swear this guy's Lebanese. Everything about him. And that makes him the only Lebanese guy around here not cruising in his car: The sidewalk is the turf of foreign workers turned rentboys.

There’s something mysterious and hot about this guy. I’ve got to figure him out. Let alone I could use a hunk like this before bed. I pull over the car and stop right next to him.

- Me: Hey there, how are you?

- Him: Good and you… what’s up?

- Me: Nothing much. Just driving around…

- Him: Just driving around eh?

- Me: Yup heading back home. But then I saw you!

- Him: You wanna fcuk or get fcuked?

- Me (thinking: guy's fast!): Umm neither I think… just go for a ride and see what happens.

- Him: You like to scuk?

- Me: Yeah I guess that part could happen. Listen do you want to come up or not?

- Him: Ok I’m going to walk back this way and you’ll pick me up from over there.

- Me: But why from over there? Just hop in here it’s much more quiet!

- Him: No, I want people to see me get in the car with you.

- Me (thinking: WTF?!): Fine, let me pick you up from over there then”

I drove forward into the light and picked him up.

How is it I could ignore all the signs, how is it I couldn’t see that everything about this guy was getting weirder by the minute, I still can’t figure….

... I guess the fish-hook must have been way, way too pretty and the fish (me) must have been way, way too horny.

-- by GiL. Photo by GiB#2 in Paris.

Part 1/7 – Let’s Go Get Some Gays!

It’s about 10 pm and it sounds quiet on the Adaab floor of makhfar Hbeich (1). The convicts must be asleep. The voice of a taHarre (2) breaks the silence of the interrogation room, a small room with a minimalist décor done in typical Lebanese Bureaucracy style – an empty desk, two chairs, a rusty file cabinet and no computer. Except it now boasts a camera, supposedly imposed by Human Rights following a morbid scandal of torture interrogations last year:

The entrance to the Hbeich detention center next to AUB

- “Boss we only have one guy in number 2 tonight, Boss. The stinky old Syrian guy. And he’s leaving tomorrow!”

- “Hmm that’s not good… Alright let’s go get some gays, then. We’ll do it as usual, you stand, I hide”, the Boss, a robust family man and former torture interrogator, says with a smile.

- “Yeah of course Boss, I’m the good-looking one around here!”, the young and handsome guy says laughing.

- “Yeah that much is true kid… remember I’m the one with a wife and two kids!”



1- Adaab: the floor dedicated to ‘Mores’ in the infamous Hbeich police detention center next to AUB
2- taHarre: undercover police agent in Lebanon - they dress in civil

(Conversation Fictional).
-- by GiL. Photo by GiB#2