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Sources: Lebanese-French Businessman Freed but Grounded

Takieddine, seen in this file picture taken in 2016, fled to Beirut in June - AFP
Takieddine, seen in this file picture taken in 2016, fled to Beirut in June - AFP
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Sources: Lebanese-French Businessman Freed but Grounded

Takieddine, seen in this file picture taken in 2016, fled to Beirut in June - AFP
Takieddine, seen in this file picture taken in 2016, fled to Beirut in June - AFP

Lebanon on Monday released a Lebanese-French businessman who has been on the run from French authorities since June, but banned him from travel pending investigation, a Lebanese judicial source said, AFP reported.

Lebanese security forces detained Ziad Takieddine last week at the request of Interpol.

Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat on Monday freed the 70-year-old under judicial supervision after "determining his place of residence, confiscating his passports and banning him from leaving Lebanese territory," the source told AFP.

Takieddine had fled to Beirut in June, when a French court condemned him to five years in jail in a case involving millions of euros in kickbacks from arms sales.

Lebanon would soon request France provide it with Takieddine's legal file so it can review charges against him, the judicial source said.

If the charges were found to be justified, he could be tried in Lebanon as a Lebanese citizen, the source added.

A French judicial source told AFP he was sceptical of the possibility of extradition to France.

"France and Lebanon have not concluded an extradition agreement and Lebanon does not extradite its nationals. The proceedings could very quickly end there," the source said.

Takieddine was also once the main accuser in an inquiry into suspected Libyan financing of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign.

The businessman was investigated in late 2016 after he told the media he had delivered millions of euros in cash from Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Sarkozy caught a break last month when Takieddine suddenly retracted his claim.

A judicial source in France denied Takieddine's latest arrest was linked to the Sarkozy affair, declining to provide further details.

Takieddine spent two weeks in jail in Lebanon until November 10 as part of a disagreement with his former lawyer Hani Mourad, then was released.

A Lebanese legal source who asked to remain anonymous said Takieddine was being pursued in a number of financial cases in Lebanon, including on charges of slander, fraud and forgery.

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Egypt’s Parliament Speaker Rejects Proposals for Taking in Palestinians from Gaza

Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
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Egypt’s Parliament Speaker Rejects Proposals for Taking in Palestinians from Gaza

Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)

Egypt’s parliament speaker on Monday strongly rejected proposals to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, saying this could spread conflict to other parts of the Middle East.

The comments by Hanfy el-Gebaly, speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, came a day after US President Donald Trump urged Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza.

El-Gebaly, who didn’t address Trump’s comments directly, told a parliament session Monday that such proposals "are not only a threat to the Palestinians but also they also represent a severe threat to regional security and stability.”

“The Egyptian House of Representatives completely rejects any arrangements or attempts to change the geographical and political reality for the Palestinian cause,” he said.

On Sunday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting any “temporary or long-term” transfer of Palestinians out of their territories.

The ministry warned that such a move “threatens stability, risks expanding the conflict in the region and undermines prospects of peace and coexistence among its people.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right governing partners have long advocated what they describe as the voluntary emigration of large numbers of Palestinians and the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Human rights groups have already accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, which United Nations experts have defined as a policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove the civilian population of another group from certain areas “by violent and terror-inspiring means.”