BEIRUT: A military court has begun the trial of human rights activist Ali Akil Khalil, who is charged with spreading false information about the Internal Security Forces (ISF), after he alleged that policemen tortured inmates at Roumieh prison.

In a late 2011 interview with Al-Jadeed television channel, Khalil said inmates at Lebanon’s notorious Roumieh prison were being tortured with sharp tools and threatened with death.

Judge Nizar Khalil chaired the session at the Military Court and told Khalil to enter his plea.

He pleaded guilty, saying he did not mean to offend members of the ISF, but rather wanted to shed light on the prison situation.

The activist, who is Lebanon’s ambassador to the International Human Rights Organization, told the court that photographs he held aloft during the television interview were made available to him by inmates’ families.

At the time, Khalil said the photos of Roumieh prisoners showed that the inmates had been subjected to beatings.

A verdict is expected later Wednesday.

In a May 2011 news conference, Khalil said the ISF has failed to deliver on its promises to improve living conditions at Roumieh Prison, prompting dozens of prisoners to go on hunger strike.

“Instead of reforms being implemented at Roumieh prison, prisoners and detainees have been inhumanely treated,” he said.

During Khalil's hearing, members of the Committee of Family Members of Detainees in Lebanese Prisons, the Khiam Rehabilitation Center, and the International Organization of Human Rights (of which Khalil is president) held a protest outside the military court, according to the National News Agency.

Several statements were read out decrying Khalil's trial as a violation of human rights.

In his statement, Secretary-General of the Khiam Rehabilitation Center Mohammad Safa also addressed the identity of the court, maintaining that Khalil "should have appeared before a civilian court and not a military court, because a military court is supposed to deal with military crimes."