Leader's son reveals torture in Hezbollah's prisons

CAIRO – 22 August 2018: A person called Ali Walla Mazloum posted on Facebook saying he is the son of Hezbollah Leader Hussein Mazloum known as Haj Walaa. Saturday's post was titled "The other face of Hezbollah: Prisons, individual cells, humiliation and torture".

Mazloum said that Hezbollah locks its opponents in individual cells. The area of each is two square meters maximum. Prisoners there never see the sun, and become subject to the cruelest methods of torture and humiliation.

The son of the deceased leader said that he was locked in one of those prisons for a year where he was tortured and humiliated. He posted photos of such prisons from the outside as they are camouflaged to look like regular buildings in southern Beirut.

"Hezbollah possesses a number of prisons run by the units of protection, and preventative security. The prisoners are members who protest actions by the group as well as Lebanese people and foreigners whom they kidnap alleging them of posing a threat to the group," the post said.

Mazloum added that he remained tied and wrapped in a thick cover for 24 hours once he was taken to the prison.

He revealed the locations of those prisons. The central one is in Hereyk alley behind Behrman hospital. It is the storehouse of Beydoun Company for Chairs. Another prison called Beir El Abdel is located behind the Islamic Cooperation Centre.

The Iran-backed group also has an interrogation centre in the seventh floor of Al Qaem Complex in addition to a prison near Al Sayeda Zeinab Complex. The group possess a prison having individual and non-individual cells; some were shut down after they were revealed as a result of kidnapping two girls belonging to Al Shams family and locking them up there.

That prison is located in Al Mogtaby Complex lying behind the headquarters of the group's TV channel Al Manara. Prisoners can be deprived from food but they are allowed to receive visits from their families every month or two for just 30 minutes.

Mazloum, whose family has been subject to humiliation by the group, promised to reveal more and warned that what he has uncovered may lead him to Hezbollah's prison again. However, he affirmed that he has nothing to lose and that he will file a lawsuit against the group.

In 2006, Israel imposed a blockade on Lebanon from July 12 through Aug. 14, for a total of 34 days, because of the missile attack launched by Hezbollah against Israeli border towns in an attempt to release Hezbollah prisoners. The incidents resulted in 1,191-1,300 Lebanese casualties, mostly civilian, and 165 Israeli casualties, including 44 civilians, according to the BBC.

Around one million Lebanese and 300,000-500,000 Israelis were displaced, and Lebanese infrastructure was destroyed.

Last year, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri resigned after he had won the election a few months earlier because of Hezbollah's intervention in the state's affairs but he later retracted his resignation.