Religious and media figures held a sit-in on Tuesday in solidarity with anti-Hezbollah cleric Ali al-Amin, who has been taken to court for participating in late 2019 in a meeting in Bahrain that was allegedly attended by Israelis.
The lawsuit was filed in June 2020 by lawyer Ghassan al-Mawla on behalf of Nabih Awada, Khalil Nasrallah, Shawqi Awada and Hussein al-Dirani against al-Amin for “meeting with Israeli officials in Bahrain, attacks on the Resistance and its martyrs, inciting strife between sects, sowing discord and sedition, and violating the Sharia laws of the Jaafari sect.”
Al-Amin’s questioning was scheduled to take place on Tuesday at the Justice Palace in Beirut, but it was postponed due to a strike by lawyers.
Religious and media figures had gathered outside the Justice Palace in solidarity with the cleric ahead of the planned questioning.
They raised banners supporting al-Amin and saying that violent messages do not silence the voice of freedom.
Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel expressed his solidarity with al-Amin “and support for his free and open mind in the face of oppression and close-minded people.”
He added: “We will not accept intimidation, and we will bring down the police state and the militias behind it.”
Last year, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri condemned the lawsuit filed against the cleric as “an attack on the dignity of Lebanese.”
The Mustaqbal movement leader in a tweet said that Amin “is a representative of national and Islamic unity and the attack on his dignity is an attack on all Muslims and Christians.”
Al-Amin has said he held no personal meeting with any Israeli at the conference, and that he “was not aware of their attendance.”
