LEBANON: HUNGER SRTIKE AND DEMONSTRATION IN ATELIAS IN SUPPORT OF MOHAMMAD MUGHRABI

For the latest news go to the Home page of the TRP - Per le ultime notizie vai alla "Home page"

Transnational Radical Party Press Release

[RSS FEED

] [Send this page | Invia questo testo ]
BOOKMARK THIS PAGE | AGGIUNGI A PREFERITI
OTHER LANGUAGES:

28/08/2003 | LEBANON: HUNGER SRTIKE AND DEMONSTRATION IN ATELIAS IN SUPPORT OF MOHAMMAD MUGHRABI

Monday, August 18, 2003 a group of young women and men affiliated with the Free Patriotic Current began an open-ended hunger strike in support of Dr. Mohammed Mughrabi illegally imprisoned by the judiciary earlier this month (August 8).
The group gathered outside the Mar Elias Church in Antelias and staged a 24-hour hunger strike by rotation with a new person every day to take over. The strike will end with the release of Dr. Mughrabi from prison. A Lebanese flag and a big placard carrying the following sentence: “we, the accused of sovereignty and freedom, assigned Dr. Mohammed Mughrabi to defend us” were raised at the place of the sit-in.
The move by these young men and women is intended to show both support and gratitude for Dr. Mughrabi who was one of the very few lawyers with the outstanding courage to defend them in military courts in face of the charges brought against them by the repressive regime in Beirut.
On Friday, August 22, the media was invited to the sit-in. People who knew this outstanding lawyer gave a number of testimonies and SOLIDE (Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile) read a statement on behalf of the sit-in group in Antelias. The statement reads the following:

Release Dr. Mohammed Mughrabi Immediately

Concerning the case of Dr. Mohammed Mughrabi, we find ourselves facing a flagrant violation of this man’s basic rights to pursue his case in the judiciary in a legal and fair manner away from the illegal and arbitrary detention of his freedom.
We also find ourselves in face of a shameful assassination of his character and career through accusations given in political and media statements that are far from legal principles that should have been followed taking into consideration the universal legal principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty.
International human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch considered the arrest of Dr. Mughrabi as illegal and have political background. Lebanese prominent legal figures such as Dr. Edmond Naim and MP Ghassan Moukheiber acknowledged that the arrest of Dr. Mughrabi was a big mistake and must be revoked. As for us we say: leave your personal thoughts and impressions of this man aside and don’t allow Lebanon to fall down to the level of totalitarian regimes that fears the freedom of expression and cannot tolerate the voice of the opposition.
Once again, we confirm that our position is based on a clear and undoubted legal reading and reiterate our demand to stop the illegal arrest of Dr. Mohammed Mughrabi and to release him immediately.

[Print