Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi noted that the footage depicting Roumieh inmates being tortured by prison guards was leaked in an attempt to target moderate Sunnis in Lebanon as well as the country’s security and “my special ties with Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouk”.

In remarks published by al-Joumhouriyah newspaper, Rifi warned the Lebanese against taking all rumors for granted, mainly the one claiming Christians were involved in the torturous acts, renewing the call on people to move past such cheap claims.

Rifi also outlined what he believes to be the goals or aims intended from the leak of such gruesome acts:

1. Hezbollah’s need to distract attention from the regime’s failure in Syria and the party being surrounded in Qalamoun

1. Striking Sunni moderation so as to allow extremism to blossom and move the crisis into the Sunni community so as to distract its leadership from the main issues.

Rifi noted however that these attempts will not yield any results as the Sunnis will not allow the party to achieve its goal by taking advantage of them.

1. Tarnishing the Intelligence Branch’s image following its multiple security achievements, mainly in retaliation against the Michel Samaha case, through stirring up chaos in Roumieh prison.

1. Rifi believes the third goal to be quite personal, noting that the footage could have been leaked to cause a rift between him and Interior Minister al-Mashnouk to show that Future Movement ranks are no longer tightly knit together.