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Lebanon Judiciary Issues New Indictments in TikTok Gang Case

TikTok app. (AP)
TikTok app. (AP)
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Lebanon Judiciary Issues New Indictments in TikTok Gang Case

TikTok app. (AP)
TikTok app. (AP)

The first investigating judge in Mount Lebanon, Judge Nicolas Mansour, begins interrogating 10 detainees from the TikTok gang involved in sexual assaults on children.
The judicial circles are also eagerly awaiting the warrants that the investigating judge will issue against the involved suspects residing outside Lebanon to convert them into international arrest warrants.
On Thursday, Attorney General at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal Tanios Saghbini, indicted 12 individuals involved in the case.
On Friday, he indicted another five detainees, including Ghadir Saleh Ghanawi, aka as Gigi, a female suspect believed to have played a significant role in luring children through the TikTok application and then handing them over to the gang.
“The new defendants have been charged with criminal offenses carrying penalties ranging from 3 years to 20 years of hard labor”, a judicial source familiar with the details of the case confirmed.
Human Trafficking, Money Laundering, and Rape
The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the “judiciary has charged these individuals with offenses including establishing a criminal network for human trafficking and money laundering, utilizing electronic applications, especially TikTok, using fake identities, luring children, committing violence against them, threatening them with murder and rape, and engaging in indecent acts”.
The judicial source said that the Cybercrime Combating Bureau also has its investigations focused on pursuing all the names that have appeared in the investigation, as well as tracking down all sides involved.
Dangerous Tasks for “Gigi”
Just a few days after a search and arrest warrant was issued against Ghadir Saleh Ghanawi, aka Gigi Ghanawi, the Cybercrime Bureau detained her bringing the total number of detainees in this case to 11 individuals.
A source following up closely on the investigations said that Ghanawi had a dangerous task in luring the children via TikTok under the pretext of securing employment for them in a reputable company.
“She set appointments for them with the alleged company manager, and upon their arrival at the predetermined address, she would receive them at the door of the apartment. Inside the apartment, they would be offered a drink containing a narcotic substance, then they would be raped”, said the source.
The source added that her most dangerous task was in filming the children being raped, she then sends the photos to the heads of the network outside Lebanon who were identified as Paul Meouch, known as (Jay), residing in Sweden, and Pierre Naffaa, located in Dubai, in addition to others.
A new list of names of ten suspects is expected to be issued next week including a lawyer registered with the North Bar Association in Tripoli called Khaled Merheb; and Hassan Sinjer, who according to information is residing in Switzerland.
Interpol Warrants
The warrants in absentia will be referred to the public prosecution office which will immediately refer them to the Interpol, according to the source.
“The Lebanese judiciary received positive signals from countries where some members of the gang reside. This indicates that the warrants will be promptly reviewed and executed if they do not conflict with the laws of those countries”, concluded the source.

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Arab World

Four Killed in Israeli Strikes on Southern Lebanon

Israeli tanks drive in Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel, April 25, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli tanks drive in Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel, April 25, 2026. (Reuters)
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Four Killed in Israeli Strikes on Southern Lebanon

Israeli tanks drive in Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel, April 25, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli tanks drive in Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel, April 25, 2026. (Reuters)

Four people were killed on Saturday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanon's state news agency reported, while the Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired rockets at Israel, the latest challenges to a tenuous, recently extended ceasefire.

The ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, ‌but Israel ‌and Iran-backed Hezbollah ‌have ⁠continued to clash ⁠in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in the self-declared buffer zone.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had struck loaded rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in three locations in southern Lebanon overnight ⁠and targeted several Hezbollah fighters in ‌separate strikes.

It was ‌unclear whether the deaths reported by the ‌state news agency were linked to those ‌Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military restated its warning for Lebanese residents not to approach the Litani River area in southern Lebanon while it battles ‌Hezbollah.

It said it had intercepted a "suspicious aerial target" within the area its ⁠forces ⁠are presently occupying, and that two rockets were fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel, one of which was intercepted. There were no reports of casualties.

A Hezbollah lawmaker said on Friday that a US-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless, a day after it was extended for three weeks. The truce had been due to expire on Sunday.

Arab World

Syria to Begin Trying Assad-Era Figures on Sunday, Says Justice Official

Residents gather in a street after Friday prayers to celebrate the arrest of Amjad Yousef, a key suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre, in Tadamon, Syria, April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
Residents gather in a street after Friday prayers to celebrate the arrest of Amjad Yousef, a key suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre, in Tadamon, Syria, April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
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Syria to Begin Trying Assad-Era Figures on Sunday, Says Justice Official

Residents gather in a street after Friday prayers to celebrate the arrest of Amjad Yousef, a key suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre, in Tadamon, Syria, April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
Residents gather in a street after Friday prayers to celebrate the arrest of Amjad Yousef, a key suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre, in Tadamon, Syria, April 24, 2026. (Reuters)

Trials of prominent figures from the rule of ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad are set to begin this weekend, a justice ministry official told AFP on Saturday, starting with a former security official.

"The first trial sessions for symbolic former Syrian regime figures will begin on Sunday" with Atif Najib, who was arrested in January of last year, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Najib is the former head of political security in south Syria's Daraa province, the cradle of the country's 2011 uprising, and is accused of orchestrating a crackdown there. He is also a cousin of the ousted leader.

The ministry official said trials would follow for Wassim al-Assad -- another of the former president's cousins -- and Amjad Youssef, the main suspect in a 2013 massacre who was arrested this week, as well as "pilots who took part in bombing Syrian cities and towns".

Syria's civil war began with a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests and spiraled into a 13-year conflict that killed more than half a million people.

Assad's forces pounded opposition-held areas, including with airstrikes and crude barrel bomb attacks, while tens of thousands of people disappeared, some into the country's brutal prison system.

Since seizing power in December 2024, Syria's new authorities have repeatedly announced the arrests of former officials, vowing to provide justice and accountability for Assad-era atrocities.

Assad fled to Russia with only a handful of confidants, abandoning senior officials and security officers, some of whom reportedly went abroad or took refuge in the coastal heartland of Assad's Alawite minority.

Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais said Friday on X that the Damascus criminal court was ready "for the moment that victims have long waited for: the start of public trials", calling them "part of the transitional justice process".

Rights groups, activists and the international community have repeatedly emphasized the importance of transitional justice in the war-ravaged country.

The protest movement against Assad began in Daraa on March 15, 2011, after 15 students were arrested for allegedly writing anti-government slogans on the city's walls.

Residents said the students were tortured, leading to a protest to demand their release that ended in bloodshed.

Najib, blamed for the crackdown, was dismissed soon after. He was on a US Treasury sanctions list alongside other Syrian officials.

Wassim al-Assad was arrested last June. The US Treasury sanctioned him in 2023, saying he had led a paramilitary unit and was "a key figure in the regional drug trafficking network".

Arab World

Low Turnout as Palestinians Vote in First Elections Since Gaza War

Palestinian electoral officials set up a polling station in a tent for municipal elections in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on April 25, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinian electoral officials set up a polling station in a tent for municipal elections in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on April 25, 2026. (AFP)
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Low Turnout as Palestinians Vote in First Elections Since Gaza War

Palestinian electoral officials set up a polling station in a tent for municipal elections in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on April 25, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinian electoral officials set up a polling station in a tent for municipal elections in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on April 25, 2026. (AFP)

Palestinians in the West Bank and central Gaza voted on Saturday in municipal elections, the first since the Gaza war erupted, marked by low turnout and a narrow slate of contenders. 

Nearly 1.5 million people were registered to vote in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as 70,000 people in Gaza's Deir al-Balah area, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission (CEC). 

"We are very pleased to exercise democracy in spite of the many challenges we face, both locally and internationally," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told journalists after voting in Al-Bireh, Wafa news agency said. 

Early Saturday, a steady trickle of voters headed to polling stations in the West Bank, as foreign diplomats observed the process. 

By 5 pm (1400 GMT), turnout in the West Bank reached 40.62 percent, the CEC said. 

But participation in Deir al-Balah was significantly lower, at just 21.2 percent, by the time polls closed there at 6 pm. 

In the previous municipal elections in March 2022, turnout was 53.7 percent in West Bank cities. 

Voting in the West Bank ended at 7 pm, with a notable late surge of women voters in Jericho, an AFP journalist said. 

"We will elect someone who can improve the local community ... things like water and repairing the streets," said Manar Salman, an English teacher in the city. 

"We don't receive much support from outside, and the occupation affects us in many ways... it limits what the municipality can do." 

Some questioned the election's timing. 

"We didn't want elections at this time -- not with war in Gaza and settler attacks ongoing in the West Bank," said Ziad Hassan, a businessman from Dura Al-Qaraa village. 

"The decision was imposed on us, and so we are compelled to elect an administrative body for the village council." 

Israeli settler attacks have surged in recent months, and become a major concern. 

"The main thing is security from settlers. That's why we need new faces, young people willing to fight for our rights," said Abed Jabaieh, 68, former mayor of Ramun village. 

Most electoral lists were aligned with Abbas's secular-nationalist Fatah movement or composed of independents. 

A Palestinian woman casts her ballot in a polling station during municipal elections in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron on April 25, 2026. (AFP)

- EU hails vote - 

Hamas, Fatah's bitter rival and the ruling power in Gaza, was absent from the race. 

In many municipalities, Fatah-backed lists faced off against independents supported by smaller factions such as the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. 

Municipal councils oversee water, sanitation, and local infrastructure but do not enact legislation. 

Still, with presidential or legislative elections frozen since 2006, councils have become one of the last remaining democratic mechanisms under the Palestinian Authority. 

The PA faces widespread criticism over corruption, stagnation and declining legitimacy. 

Western and regional donors have increasingly tied financial and diplomatic support for the PA to reform, particularly in local governance. 

The European Union called the vote an "important step towards broader democratization and strengthened local governance ... in line with the ongoing reforms process". 

A Palestinian man shows his marked finger after casting his ballot at a polling station during municipal elections in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Al-Bireh on April 25, 2026. (AFP)

- 'Strong determination' - 

The polls closed earlier in Deir al-Balah to allow for counting in daylight because of the lack of electricity in the war-devastated strip, the CEC told AFP. 

Two years of war have left swathes of Gaza destroyed and more than 72,000 people dead, according to the territory's health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. 

Public infrastructure, sanitation and health services in Gaza are all struggling to function. 

Under Hamas control since 2007, Gaza experienced its first vote since the 2006 legislative elections that the movement won. 

The PA is holding elections only in Deir al-Balah to test its "success or failure, since there are no post-war opinion polls", said Jamal al-Fadi, a political scientist at Cairo's Al-Azhar University. 

It was chosen as one of the few areas where the population has not been massively displaced. 

After voting there, Mohammed al-Hasayna, 24, said although the elections were largely symbolic, they served as a sign of people's "will to live". 

"We are an educated people with strong determination, and we deserve to have our own state," he told AFP. 

"We want the world to help us overcome the catastrophe of war. Enough wars -- it is time to work towards rebuilding Gaza."