Fatah al-Islam was the group that engaged in a protracted battle with the Lebanese army while holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp. For all the trouble required to stop them, one would think they would be subject to higher security.
One would think. “Prisoners use bedsheets to escape Lebanese jail,” from Reuters, August 13:
Five prisoners escaped from Lebanon’s biggest jail on Saturday, using bedsheets to climb down a wall and then mingling with prison visitors before getting away, police said.
Security sources said four of them were believed to belong to the Fatah al-Islam group which fought fierce battles with the Lebanese army in a Palestinian refugee camp in 2007.
The Internal Security Forces said in a statement the five men, from Mauritania, Kuwait, Syria and Lebanon, escaped from Roumieh prison complex east of Beirut shortly before midday on Saturday. A sixth prisoner was caught as he tried to flee with them.
Four months ago two Roumieh inmates died in a riot by prisoners protesting against overcrowding. The jail was built to hold 1,500 inmates but is now crammed with over 3,000 prisoners.