Lebanon: Suzanne Hajj’s Innocence Sparks Political, Judicial Disputes

 Itani, Hajj/NNA
Itani, Hajj/NNA
TT
20

Lebanon: Suzanne Hajj’s Innocence Sparks Political, Judicial Disputes

 Itani, Hajj/NNA
Itani, Hajj/NNA

Last week’s controversial Military Court ruling that acquitted Internal Security Forces Major Suzanne al-Hajj and sentenced the hacker Elie Ghabash to a year in prison in the Ziad Itani framing case turned Saturday from being a judicial and legal issue to a "rich material" for political bickering, prompting the Public Prosecution office to intervene, and consider a possible judicial appeal in the case and a retrial.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned on Saturday that state prosecutor of the Military Court of Cassation Ghassan Khoury asked the chair of the Permanent Military Court, General Hussein Abdallah of sending him the Hajj-Ghabash file.

Abdallah responded in a letter saying the case was referred to Government commissioner to the military, judge Peter Germanos.

Therefore, Khoury requested from Germanos to hand him the file for a possible judicial appeal in the case before the Supreme Court. The State Prosecutor is expected to receive a response in this regard on Monday.

Last Thursday, Germanos requested the cessation of legal pursuit against Hajj for the absence of incriminated evidence.

In March, Lebanon’s security and judicial investigations uncovered that Major Hajj, the former head of the Lebanese Anti-Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau, played a dangerous role that overpassed hacking the pages of actor Ziad Itani, who was falsely accused of cooperating with and spying for Israel.

Itani was arrested in Beirut last November by the State Security Directorate General, on charges of collaborating and communicating with the Israeli enemy. He was then released in March 2018 after spending 109 days in detention.

Several political figures from the Mustaqbal Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party continued to lash out Saturday at the judiciary in general and the military court in particulate for being politicized.

Hajj’s attorney, former chief of the north Bar Association, Rashid Derbas, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday that the “political campaign against the court was completely unjustified and had gone out of rationality.”

However, a judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Germanos had deviated from the norms during his pleading by ignoring the content of the indictment and the evidences it included.

Meanwhile, tension intensified on Saturday between the Mustaqbal Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement particularly after Mustaqbal members accused officials close to President Michel Aoun of exerting pressures on the Military Court to stop the legal pursuit against Hajj, referring to a visit conducted by Defense Minister Elias Bu Saab to this court prior to the ruling.

In a tweet posted Saturday, Future Movement Secretary-General Ahmad Hariri described the ruling as “politicized, vindictive and malicious.”



Palestine Action's Co-founder Asks UK Court to Overturn Terror Group Ban

A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organisation Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organisation Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
TT
20

Palestine Action's Co-founder Asks UK Court to Overturn Terror Group Ban

A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organisation Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organisation Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS

The co-founder of a pro-Palestinian campaign group sought on Monday to challenge the British government's decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws, a move her lawyers said had "the hallmarks of an authoritarian and blatant abuse of power".

Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, is asking London's High Court to give the go-ahead for a full challenge to the group's proscription, which was made on the grounds it committed or participated in acts of terrorism.

Earlier this month, the High Court refused Ammori's application to pause the ban and, following an unsuccessful last-ditch appeal, Palestine Action's proscription came into effect just after midnight on July 5, Reuters reported.

Proscription makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Ammori's lawyer Raza Husain said Palestine Action is the first direct action group to be banned as a terror group, a move he argued was inconsistent with "the honorable history of civil disobedience on conscientious grounds in our country".

Dozens have been arrested for holding placards purportedly supporting the group since the ban and Ammori's lawyers say protesters expressing support for the Palestinian cause have also been subject to increased scrutiny from police officers.

Britain's interior minister Yvette Cooper, however, has said violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest and that Palestine Action's activities – including breaking into a military base and damaging two planes – justify proscription.

Palestine Action has increasingly targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain, often spraying red paint, blocking entrances or damaging equipment.

The group accuses the British government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in its ongoing bombardment of Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly denied committing abuses in its war in Gaza, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.