JERUSALEM – The young Lebanese activist Kinda al-Khatib, arrested on 20 June last and sentenced in December by the Beirut Military Court to three years in prison, was released in recent days in view of the appeal presented by the defense on which the court-martial will rule on 8 April.
Lebanon, anti-Hezbollah activist sentenced to three years in prison
by Sharon Nizza
Khatib, 24, an openly critical activist of Hezbollah – the Shiite “party of God” that effectively rules the country that is on the verge of economic and political default – had been condemned for “collaboration with the enemy”, Israel. Her entourage has always argued that it was a hoax to silence her.
During the months of his detention, he was pleading his case Joseph Braude, president of the Center for Peace Communications, a non-profit that brings together activists from the Middle East and North Africa. Braude, who spoke to Kinda as soon as she was released, answers questions from Republic from New York in view of the hearing that will soon decide the fate of the young activist.
Mr. Braude, what can you tell us about Kinda’s situation?
“She was arrested by 16 masked men in the middle of the night, interrogated for days and detained in prison for nine months before her temporary release on bail. During her interrogation, she was not informed of the allegations against her for several days. months in detention she was undernourished, suffered from food poisoning and contracted Covid-19 without receiving adequate treatment. According to Kinda, the only reason she did not suffer physical assault while in prison was that her case attracted the media attention and the military was afraid of possible repercussions. “
Her family and supporters say she was arrested for her activism against Hezbollah and that the allegations of spying for Israel are a hoax. What does it say about it?
“The supporters of Hezbollah and the president Michel Aoun have considered Kinda a thorn in their side for years: hers is the voice of a talented young woman with thousands of followers on social media, who has never stopped publicly denouncing their disinformation campaigns. Hezbollah has more control over military courts than civilian ones, which is why it was important for them to take it to court martial.
In Lebanon, civilians can only be tried in a military court on charges related to terrorism or “collaboration with Israel”. Since they had been monitoring her cell phone for some time, they discovered that she had exchanged messages with an Israeli journalist and this was the pretext they needed to use the “anti-normalization law” to arrest her. Then they used pro-Hezbollah media to spread false and absurd claims, without any evidence, that she had visited Israel and coordinated with Western and Gulf intelligence services. “
In the months of his detention, Lebanon was devastated by the explosion at the port of Beirut and the further deterioration of the political and economic situation.
“Among the Syrian refugees, the pandemic, the squeezing of US sanctions against Hezbollah, rampant nepotism and corruption, the Lebanese economy and political system are in collapse. Just in recent weeks, in the face of political stalemate and continuous increase of inflation, a new wave of protests is mounting that calls for a change in the country, while the repression does not subside.
Lebanese human rights organizations have documented a sharp increase in attacks on journalists by state bodies: from 20 in 2019 to 60 in 2020. On February 4, the assassination of journalist and anti-Hezbollah activist Lokman Slim shocked the country. . Besides Kinda, 35 Lebanese citizens were recently tried on false terrorism charges, when their only crime was taking part in anti-government demonstrations. “
Your organization aims to raise awareness of boycott laws in various Arab countries that prohibit any interaction with Israelis. Can you explain us better?
“Laws like this are counterproductive and we support efforts to revoke them and to protect the peace activists who oppose them, putting their careers at risk or in the worst cases – as in Lebanon – personal freedom. We are promoting a proposal for a law, which has already obtained bipartisan consensus in France and the United States, aimed at establishing an annual report of cases in which citizens of Arab countries are intimidated or punished for interacting with Israelis, raising international attention to this issue.
The effect on the Lebanese diaspora that the condemnation of Kinda e can have should not be underestimated Charbel (co-defendant living in the USA, sentenced in absentia to 10 years, ed). The Lebanese community in the world is huge, many of them have developed friendships and collaborations with Israeli citizens. Now that Israel has signed peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates and other Muslim countries where hundreds of thousands of Lebanese live, many fear returning to their homeland, further isolating Lebanon from its lifeline of expatriates around the world. , especially in such a difficult time for the country “.
Is there public activism in Lebanon against the boycott law, article 278 of the Penal Code?
“More and more people, especially among young people, are realizing the damage that this law has caused to the economy and to the country’s global position. The bankruptcy management of Hezbollah and its allies, which has led to the current situation of acute crisis, does than to reinforce the view that a new approach must be attempted. After decades in which the Lebanese government has claimed a monopoly on decisions over the approach to Israel, young people feel empowered by the idea of being able to act locally and democratically to revoke an unjust law.
To be clear, this is not the cause that Kinda el-Khatib has made her own: her correspondence with an Israeli journalist was incidental and is a fringe aspect of her prolific social media activity. But his case, and the support he has obtained, underline the draconian nature of a law that has been used to prosecute it for political reasons, and in this sense it could prove to be a turning point. “
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