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Two days following the mitigated three-year imprisonment sentence against the killer of wife Manal Assi, the capital of the North, Tripoli strongly attacked the attitude of the father who dropped his personal rights against the three rapists of his underage girl, “as if nothing has happened.” In this respect, the Tripoli Bar Association President pledged to continue the legal battle in the case of the girl until the end, while supporting at the same time the grandfather’s request for the custody of his granddaughter. In the meantime, while the girl’s laywer, Mohammad Hafzah, maintained that dropping the personal right does not “negate the nature of the rape incident,” the defendants’ attorney requested the release of the three young men, and is awaiting the decision of the judge on his appeal. On the subject, the Lebanese Center for Human Rights filed a notice last week at the public prosecutor discriminatory denouncing ‘Kalima Online’ electronic portal for publishing confidential news related to the above case and disclosing the full name and address of the victim. Meanwhile, the wave of condemnations is mounting against the recent mitigated pronouncement by Beirut Criminal Court in the case of Manal Assi. To this effect, As Safir newspaper recalled that one of the key underlying foundations for the passing of the domestic violence law was to deny all “angry abusers” the right to justify violence against their spouses (and other female members of the family). Incriminating the deceased wife, Manal, with adultery has backslid Lebanese society ten years, to the time prior to annulment of the so-called ‘honor killing’ law. In the same vein, Kafa Enough Violence and Exploitation called for the widest participation in the sit-in that it plans to organise tomorrow Wednesday at the Justice Palace to protest the above mitigated verdict. )As Safir, Al AKhbar, The Daily Star, July 19, 2016)

 

The minister of industry, Dr. Hussein Haj Hassan, reiterated once more the need to exert more towards the creation of jobs for university graduates, particularly fresh engineers. Hassan was speaking last Saturday during his sponsorship of a graduation ceremony organized by the three branches of the state-run Lebanese University School of Engineering. The minister called on every official or sect or political party in the country to get at work, especially that the government lags behind in planning, and noting that the public debt has reached USD 72 billion. However, he kept optimistic that the projected oil and gas resources would open up many employment prospects for all disciplines, notably in the petrochemicals, electric, mechanical and civil engineering, in addition to other professional sectors including tourism and food sectors. Haj Hassan pressed the need for urgency in handling the situation in order to generate the desired outputs. “We need nearly 40 thousand jobs every year while we currently create 15 thousand only, which means that each year we have some 25 thousand new jobless people,” the minister maintained, pointing out that this is a major political scuffle. Haj Hassan finally warned that Lebanon cannot afford to see more nationals emigrating or staying jobless in their country. “What we need is citizens who have rights and responsibilities,” he added while concluding by calling for the development of a national labor market plan that will take into account the present imbalance in supply and demand, pledging to cooperate with deans of universities to this effect. (Al Diyar, July 17, 2016)

 

Following the 25 July ultimatum to the government by so-called ‘Civil Alliance for Food Safety’ to form the projected Lebanese Committee for Food Safety, (http://www.lkdg.org/ar/node/15285), a number of civil society organisations called last Friday for a symbolic sit-in at 10 am, July 21, at the Grand Serail during the meeting of the Cabinet. This is the first step for the Alliance to be followed by additional steps when the Committee is formed. The announcement was made during a press conference organized by the Legal Agenda, Consumer Protection Society, Farah Al 3ata2 and Wa7hdatuna Khalasuna associations and attended by some 258 civil society organisations (CSOs). These associations said they have opened a peaceful battle with the government until after the formation of the Committee which is expected to serve as the backbone of the food safety law, passed by the Parliament about 8 months back, after being kept for 15 full years in the drawers of the legislative body. In this respect, the president of the Consumer Society, Zuheir Berro, pointed out that the step is preemptive and is sought to prevent any political manipulation of the said law to break it off. Similarly, lawyer Nizar Saghieh, of the Legal Agenda, stressed the importance of the step in that it turns the formation of the food safety committee and the topic of food security into a public cause and declares war on food related corruption. In the latest developments of the Food Safety Campaign, health ministry inspectors shut down a number of commercial institutions and shops in Saida, Shiyah, Sooq el Gharb, Sh7eem, Zghorta and al Qibbeh in Tripoli. For the names of the closed establishment, kindly visit the following link:  http://www.almustaqbal.com/v4/Article.aspx?Type=NP&ArticleID=710525. (Al Akhbar, An Nahr, Al Mustaqbal, July 16, 2016)

 

The mitigated 5-year imprisonment term for the killer of wife, Manal Assi, pronounced by the Criminal Court of Beirut last Thursday, while charging the victim with responsibility for allegedly unlawful conduct towards her husband, ( http://bit.ly/2amjtWE) has aroused a wave of condemnations to this effect. KAFA Enough Violence and Exploitation organization said it believed the five-year term was a gift handed by the court to the culprit, describing the verdict as totally absurd. “It completely disregards the ethical and logical considerations and human rights principles that our legislations are still a far cry from,” KAFA noted, and “How cheap the lives of women in our country have become,” it concluded. Likewise, lawyer Manar Zuaiter maintained that “the woman magistrate (Helena Iskandar) who issued the sentence has given herself the powers to morally judge a woman killed by her husband.” This, Zu3aiter lamented, while completely ignoring the circumstances of the crime, the judge also overlooked the fact that the killer husband was known for his violent behavior which makes him a real threat to society. Zu3aiter also revealed the act of betrayal of the husband, and his marriage to another woman, questioning whether the act was morally acceptable. Similarly, a number of jurists agreed that the above sentence was unfair and reinvigorates the notion of ‘honor killings’ through Article 252 of the Penal Code. The latter states that the victim’s family by dropping its personal right is acknowledging that the pronounced verdict is a ‘crime of honor’. This, legal experts pointed out, makes a decision to appeal almost impossible, given the male chauvinist mentality behind the act of relinquishment of the personal right. (As Safir, Al Akhbar, Al Mustaqbal, July 16, 2016)

 

Related news: 

Criminal Court of Beirut pronounces an unfair sentence against killer of his wife Manal

Lebanese legislations promote sexual assault, torture and domestic violence

 

Despite the fact that Labor Minister (MoL), Sajaan Azzi, is one of the fierce defenders of the inhuman sponsorship (Kafala) system, that reinforce human enslavement, and notwithstanding his refusal to legally approve the formation of the trade union of migrant women domestic workers (MWDW), the Lebanese Ministry of Labor reminded in a statement issued on Friday the Lebanese of the need to observe principles of human rights and to apply the provisos of relevant labor laws in dealing with migrant women domestic workers MWDWs on Lebanese territories. These conditions, the statement mentioned, include “provision of a decent working environment and residence with the employer family, as well as protection of any potential risks the MWDWs might experience.” The ministry said it attaches great importance to compliance to the above principles by households who have a live-in domestic worker, “as that reflects our respect to humanity”, warning of taking appropriate measures against any violating party. (Al Diyar, July 16, 2016)

 

The governor of the Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, considered the Lebanese immigrants to be a core source of finance through the remittances they send and which historically represented nearly 12- 20% of the Gross National Product. Salameh was speaking yesterday during the ‘Second Conference of Emigrant Economy’ organized by Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group in cooperation with the Central Bank, the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) and the Federation of Lebanese Chambers. In his intervention, Al Iktissad Wal Aamal CEO, Raouf Abu Zaki, pointed out that the transfers of Lebanese expatriates fluctuate between US$ 7 to 8 million each year, representing around 16% of the GDP. Similarly, the conference sponsor, PS Nabih Berri, in his allusion to the latest US sanctions on Lebanese banks, described the “emigrant money as clean, and therefore, punishing the country, its political parties or religious sects is unfounded, and it denotes an act of disrespect of their human right to belonging and expression. He warned of continuing the existing US restrictions. For his part, Fadi Gemayel, president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association, said the private sector is strong and initiative oriented with substantial financial abilities at hand estimated at USD188 billion (local banks assets). This amount can be expended in various projects, he maintained, related to the infrastructure and investment schemes, and also to supporting productive institutions and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In his turn, Mohamad Chukeir, president of the Chambers of Commerce, said Lebanon will see a bright period in the near future, based on its capacities and its leading role in the region, and in view of the forthcoming oil and gas ventures, as well as the ratification of the partnership agreements and reconstruction of neighboring Syria and Iraq. In conclusion, Salameh recalled the steadfastness of the Lebanese banks against all economic challenges, underlining the strong purchasing power of the Lebanese pound against European, non-oil Arab and Mediterranean currencies. He disclosed that the Bank has recently adopted a computational finance system which boosted its assets in US dollar by more than three billion dollars, resulting in additional revenues of over US$ one billion for the Central Bank and a corresponding amount for the banking sector. (As Safir, An Nahar, Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, Al Hayat, Al Akhbar, July 15, 2016)

 

In collaboration with Promundo organization, ABAAD association launched yesterday the ‘R Program’ aimed at creating a sustainable behavioral pattern among boys and men to promote gender equality in Lebanon. The name as it tells in Arabic is derived from ‘man’. It is a way to encourage the male sex to break gender stereotypes and to start questioning the traditional inferences of the concept of masculinity, and hence participate in ending all forms of discrimination against their women partners. The program is built on a strategic training methodology to capacitate the youth through raising awareness and seeking to replace gender patterns, particularly in matters related to non-violent sexual and reproductive health rights, abuse and gender equality. It is also based on the ‘Programme H’ (working with young men) that has been applied in some 22 countries in the framework of plans to end violence against women. It should be noted, that ABAAD, winner of the ‘Womanity’ award, has adapted the program to be consistent with the Lebanese context, while taking into account the emerging issue of refugees. The program targets young men aged between 18 to 24 years living in marginalized communities and brought up in areas of conflict and are pigeon-holed as male chauvinists, with one aim to sensitize them on relevant approaches that help restrain misled notions of gender discrimination and male violence. The program is divided across many aspects and includes interactive workshops, as well as discussions and games that address the traditional bringing up of men and women and its impact on society. (Al Mustaqbal, July 15, 2016)

 

Two years following the death from excessive brutality of Manal Assi by her husband at their house in a Beirut neighborhood, the Criminal Court of Beirut, headed by Judge Helena Iskandar, issued yesterday an unfair mitigated 5-year imprisonment term for the killer, while charging the victim with responsibility for allegedly “unlawful, demeaning and shameful conduct”! The Court judged that the riders for a mitigated verdict are fulfilled in this special case of the defendant. It maintained that as the prosecution party has dropped all personal rights, and taking into account the circumstances of the incident and the defendant’s standards of living and owing to his provision for his two daughters, the court has unanimously decided to sentence the culprit to death, reducing and reduced the punishment to 7 then to 5 years in jail while deducting the period in detention. The pronouncement is expounded in a 45-page text entailing facts of the crime and testimonials of the defendant and witnesses. It also recalls the chronological settings of the atrocity which, according to the victim’s sister, included beating using fists, a pressure cooker and a glass bowl. The court ruling was reportedly based on the fact that the husband, in shock to find his wife on the phone with her lover, got aggravated and furious at her dishonest behavior. And as proven to the court that the murderer suffers emotional tantrums, the court found the stipulations of Article 252 of the Penal Code are vindicated in the case of the defendant, and therefore he is eligible to benefit from a mitigating sentence.   (Al Mustaqbal July 15, 2016)

 

Related news: 

A man defenestrates his wife in Bshamoon while the trial of husband of deceased Manal Assi is postponed 

 

The Minister of Labor, Sajaan Azzi, said that he hoped that the solidarity shown recently between the economic circles and the general trade union will generate serious action to protect the Lebanese workforce from foreign competition, particularly, from displaced Syrians working in the country. Azzi was speaking during a ceremony organized by the Federation of Lebanese Chambers in honor of the National Federation of Trade Unions, Ghassan Ghosn, on his election as general director of the International Federation of Arab Trade Unions. Azzi claimed that Syrian presence in the country has all the characteristics of economic migration rather than of displacement because of security reasons. The minister went on to say that, as a result of this, the present problem is no longer confined to competition between the Lebanese and Syrian working forces but transcend this matter to posing a threat to Lebanese businesses. This, he maintained, is clearly demonstrated in the random establishments founded by Syrian nationals at a time domestic-owned businesses are shutting down because of the declining economic situation. He closed his statement with a show of appreciation to the Prime Minister, Tamam Salam’s rational and firm handling of the situation, and an appeal to the international community to find a genuine solution to the refugee crisis in the country. (Al Diyar, An Nahar, July 14, 2016)