The family of former Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour urged Lebanese authorities on Monday to not extradite him after authorities in Ramallah requested his transfer over corruption allegations.
Lebanon's public prosecutor ordered the arrest of Dabbour, ambassador from 2012 to 2025, last week after questioning him based on a warrant from the Palestinian Authority over corruption and embezzlement during his tenure, a judicial official told AFP at the time.
The judiciary then recommended in a letter to the justice ministry that Dabbour be extradited as his case involves "Palestinian funds", another official said on Monday, on condition of anonymity.
The request must be signed by the justice minister, president and prime minister before security forces can hand him over.
"We are not asking for his protection from the judiciary, nor are we asking for charges to be dropped," Dabbour's daughter Israa said in a press conference in Beirut.
"Why should our father be moved from the country where he lived, and from the place where the alleged crimes took place, in order to be tried somewhere else?" she said, calling on the Lebanese judiciary to look into the case instead of sending him to Ramallah.
Dabbour has a "critical health condition and is in intensive care", according to his daughter, who appealed to Lebanon to "provide him with the necessary care".
In April, Lebanese authorities detained Dabbour over the same case before releasing him with a travel ban.
He has repeatedly denied the accusations on social media, accusing Yasser Abbas, son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of leading a campaign against him.
Israa Dabbour said "the file includes political accusations seeking to settle personal scores" without elaborating.
Lebanon's National Human Rights Commission asked the cabinet last week to "refrain from approving the extradition" due to "reliable information that raises serious reasons to believe that (Dabbour) is at risk of being subjected to torture, ill-treatment or arbitrary detention".
The organization also pointed to legal loopholes that could prevent the handover due to the lack of "an effective treaty between Lebanon and the State of Palestine that regulates extradition".
