Press Release
Security Forces Continue Its Ways to Abduct People!
When Will They Stop?!
(Translated)

Yesterday, Friday, 20/2/2026, around 1:00 PM, in the capital Beirut, elements of the Lebanese Army Intelligence Apparatus, without any legal justification, warrant, or judicial authorization, and without any respect for the most basic human rights and dignity, abducted two members of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Lebanon. The pretext given was that they had distributed a leaflet regarding the increase in the gasoline tax and the rise in the Value Added Tax (VAT)!

Although they were released after midnight, this matter and these actions warrant serious consideration. While security forces are meant to protect people, not terrorize or abduct them, they continue to be a source of intimidation and suppression of the voice of truth expressing the people's suffering. They have become a source of both deprivations of freedom and insecurity. Treating a person who is defenseless except for their thoughts and words as if they were a criminal, and abducting them from their families or from the street, demonstrates that the authorities and their agencies are far removed from caring for the people's affairs, security, and safety.

The most important question today is: Where is the ruling authority in the face of these illegal actions, especially with a party operating within the established legal framework, known as Elm Wa Khabar (Declaration and Notification)? How can it allow members or officers in the security forces to abuse their power over people without questioning or holding them accountable? Is it possible for an officer or official in a security apparatus to operate independently, kidnapping, arresting, detaining, and releasing people, without the ruling authorities being aware of it?

Any practice outside the bounds of law and justice not only harms the victim but also exposes the ruling authority's inaction, its disregard for people's dignity, and its negligence regarding the actions of its security apparatus. Where are the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Justice in all of this? Or is it a tacit agreement that these agencies should operate beyond oversight and accountability?

What Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Lebanon has stated and continues to state in this leaflet—indeed, in all its releases—is a general issue affecting the people of the country, including state employees and its institutions! Do you want these unjust taxes and this manipulation of people's livelihoods to go unchecked and unpunished?! If the state has become accustomed to the people's silence due to their despair of fundamental change in the state, does that mean that those with influence and intellect should remain silent about these rights?! This will never happen until Allah (swt) judges between us with truth.

[إِنِ الْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ يَقُصُّ الْحَقَّ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الْفَاصِلِينَ]

“The rule for none but Allah He declares the truth And He is the Best of Judges.” [Al-An’am: 57]

O men of the ruling authority: You are required to end these unjustified transgressions, to respect the rights of all people without exception, and to refrain from punishing them for expressing their opinions, which represent the views of the general public. Furthermore, you are required to launch an immediate investigation into such actions, especially since this is not the first time! These methods, which these institutions clearly refuse to abandon despite their claims of upholding the rule of law, remind us of the defunct regimes in the region that employed the same tactics, only to ultimately incur the wrath of the people and bring about their downfall, even after a while! Freedom is not a favour, dignity is not a privilege, and justice is not a choice. They are fundamental rights, without which neither the country nor its people can prosper.

[وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ اللَّهَ غَافِلاً عَمَّا يَعْمَلُ الظَّالِمُونَ إِنَّمَا يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ لِيَوْمٍ تَشْخَصُ فِيهِ الْأَبْصَارُ * مُهْطِعِينَ مُقْنِعِي رُءُوسِهِمْ لَا يَرْتَدُّ إِلَيْهِمْ طَرْفُهُمْ وَأَفْئِدَتُهُمْ هَوَاءٌ]

“Do not think ˹O Prophet˺ that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do He only delays them until a Day when ˹their˺ eyes will stare in horror * rushing forth, heads raised, never blinking, hearts void” [Ibrahim: 42-43]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Lebanon