Hostages freed as mutiny at Lebanon prison ends
Inmates at the Qubbah jail in Lebanon”s northern city of Tripoli ended their mutiny on Monday and freed two prison wardens after night-long negotiations, a security official said.
"The prisoners ended their rioting and freed the two security officers who work at the jail”s pharmacy," the official told AFP.
He said the two men taken hostage on Sunday were undergoing medical checks.
"They were attacked by the inmates and suffered slight injuries to the head and neck," added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A member of the negotiating team was former police brigadier general Mohammed Ayyubi, whose son Yehya was one of the inmates who led the riot, according to the official.
"Yehya is serving a life sentence on murder charges," he said.
The riot which erupted Sunday at the jail, the largest in northern Lebanon, saw inmates set fires until the early hours of Monday before quieting down, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
At dawn, smoke could still be seen billowing from the second floor of the overcrowded prison, which houses 600 inmates.
The inmates had demanded amnesty and reduced sentences.
Universities, schools and businesses near the prison were closed on Monday as police reinforcements were called in.
Picture: Lebanese security forces stand guard outside the Qubbah jail in the northern city of Tripoli. Prisoners in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli seized two warders on Sunday as a mutiny broke out at the Qubbah jail, internal security force commander General Asharaf Rifi said.(AFP)