Latest news with #CourtofCassation
L'Orient-Le Jour
3 hours ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Oueidat once again absent from interrogation with Judge Bitar over Aug. 4 port explosion
Former public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Judge Ghassan Oueidat, did not appear at the interrogation session scheduled for Monday before investigating judge at the Court of Justice, Tarek Bitar, who had summoned him as part of his investigation into the explosion that occurred at Beirut Port on Aug. 4, 2020. Judge Bitar decided to 'not summon Judge Oueidat again and to postpone any decision regarding him until the indictment is issued,' in accordance with the approach adopted for 'other people recently questioned,' reported the state-run National News Agency (NNA). On July 11, Oueidat declined to appear. He had not been notified of the hearing by the judicial police and had been summoned via the Public Prosecution, according to a high-ranking judicial source cited by L'Orient-Le Jour. Judge Bitar then set a new hearing for July 21, 10 days later. In January 2023, Oueidat prohibited the Public Prosecution and the judicial police from cooperating with Bitar in the port investigation. This ban was lifted on March 10, 2025, by the new public prosecutor, Jamal Hajjar, after 26 months of deadlock. On July 4, it was Amal MP and former minister Ghazi Zeaiter who did not appear at his hearing, choosing to be represented by his lawyer, Samer al-Hajj. A new summons was set for July 18, which Zeaiter also failed to attend. On Aug. 4, 2020, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history devastated a large part of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring 6,500. The blast was caused by a fire in a port warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored without precaution, despite repeated warnings to the highest authorities, who were accused of negligence. Judge Bitar had to suspend his investigations in January 2023, faced with hostility from much of the political class, notably Hezbollah, as well as a series of legal actions brought against him. He resumed his investigation at the beginning of 2025 and has already questioned several former officials, including former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and former Interior Minister Nohad Mashnouk.
Gulf Insider
a day ago
- Gulf Insider
Bahrain: Court Upholds Fines For Raising Over BD26,000 Without Licence
Two former leaders of a professional society have been found guilty of gathering more than BD26,000 without official permission, after the Court of Cassation upheld previous rulings. The court imposed a fine of BD100 each on the society's former chairwoman and the former financial secretary. Judges also ordered the BD26,062 raised illegally to be seized by the authorities. Prosecutors said the two defendants had breached fundraising regulations by collecting donations without securing the proper government authorisation. Collection PracticesThe incident surfaced after the Minister of Social Development alerted prosecutors that civil society monitors in his department had discovered unlawful collection practices. In her defence, the ex-chairwoman insisted she never personally handled the BD26,062. She maintained the funds were directly transferred to the bank account of an event management firm hired to organise a conference, under an agreement with her association. Hotel ExpensesFrom that sum, BD15,000 was reportedly spent settling hotel expenses, for which she provided invoices, with the remainder handed to the organising company. However, the courts remained unconvinced by these claims, concluding the funds had been improperly raised without the mandatory approval.
Daily Tribune
a day ago
- Daily Tribune
Court Upholds Fines for Raising Over BD26,000 Without Licence
Two former leaders of a professional society have been found guilty of gathering more than BD26,000 without official permission, after the Court of Cassation upheld previous rulings. The court imposed a fine of BD100 each on the society's former chairwoman and the former financial secretary. Judges also ordered the BD26,062 raised illegally to be seized by the authorities. Prosecutors said the two defendants had breached fundraising regulations by collecting donations without securing the proper government authorisation. Collection Practices The incident surfaced after the Minister of Social Development alerted prosecutors that civil society monitors in his department had discovered unlawful collection practices. In her defence, the ex-chairwoman insisted she never personally handled the BD26,062. She maintained the funds were directly transferred to the bank account of an event management firm hired to organise a conference, under an agreement with her association. Hotel Expenses From that sum, BD15,000 was reportedly spent settling hotel expenses, for which she provided invoices, with the remainder handed to the organising company. However, the courts remained unconvinced by these claims, concluding the funds had been improperly raised without the mandatory approval.
L'Orient-Le Jour
4 days ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Former prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat refuses to be notified of summons from Judge Bitar
Former public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Ghassan Oueidat refused on Thursday to be notified of a hearing scheduled by investigative judge at the Court of Justice Tarek Bitar for questioning on Monday as a suspect in the case of the double explosion at Beirut's port, which occurred on Aug. 4, 2020. In practice, the judicial police, acting on instructions from the head of the Court of Cassation, public prosecutor's office Jamal Hajjar, went on Thursday to Shehim — the former magistrate's hometown and place of residence in the Chouf — to deliver his summons, a source at the Palace of Justice told L'Orient-Le Jour. Oueidat read the notification without signing it and sent a letter to Bitar through the police officer, in which he asserts that the judge has neither 'legitimacy' nor 'jurisdiction' to question him. To justify his refusal, Oueidat relied on Article 354 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which he interprets as requiring, among other things, that a magistrate accused of a misdemeanor or felony must be tried before a judicial body designated ad hoc. Oueidat had already been summoned on July 11 by Bitar, but did not attend the hearing as the judicial police had not duly notified him. In January 2023, the former head of the public prosecutor's office initiated legal proceedings against Bitar for 'usurpation of authority' and 'rebellion against the judiciary,' after the latter decided, based on a legal study, to resume his investigation by bypassing the judicial deadlock he faced due to a series of appeals filed against him by suspects — which were deemed abusive.
Kuwait Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
France orders release of Lebanese militant after 40 years in prison
Abdallah to be freed if he leaves France • Court cites excessive detention, low risk PARIS: A French appeals court Thursday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has been imprisoned for 40 years for the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats. Abdallah, 74, is one of the longest serving prisoners in France, where most convicts serving life sentences are freed after less than 30 years. He has been up for release for 25 years, but the United States—a civil party to the case—has consistently opposed him leaving prison. Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Zionist diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. The Lebanese of Maronite Christian heritage has always insisted he is a 'fighter' who battled for the rights of Palestinians and not a 'criminal'. The Paris Appeals Court ordered he be freed from a prison in the south of France next week, on Friday, July 25, on the condition that he leave French territory and never return. It said the length of his detention had been 'disproportionate' and that he no longer represented a danger to the public. Several sources before the hearing said that it was planned for him to be flown to Paris and then to Beirut. Prosecutors can file an appeal with France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, but any such request is not expected to be processed fast enough to halt his release next week. 'Delighted' The detainee's brother, Robert Abdallah, in Lebanon told AFP he was overjoyed. 'We're delighted. I didn't expect the French judiciary to make such a decision nor for him to ever be freed, especially after so many failed requests for release,' he said. 'For once, the French authorities have freed themselves from the Zionist entity and US pressure,' he added. Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said Abdallah should be freed from jail, and had written to the appeals court to say they would organize his return home. Abdallah's lawyer Jean-Louis Chalanset also welcomed the decision, calling it a 'political scandal he was not released earlier'. In November last year, a French court ordered him to be let go conditional on Abdallah leaving France. But France's anti-terror prosecutors, arguing that he had not changed his political views, appealed the decision, which was suspended. A verdict was supposed to have been delivered in February, but the Paris appeals court postponed, saying it was unclear whether Abdallah had proof that he had paid compensation to the plaintiffs, something he has consistently refused to do. 'Past symbol' The court re-examined the latest request for his release last month. During the closed-door hearing, Abdallah's lawyer told the judges that 16,000 euros had been placed in the prisoner's bank account and were at the disposal of civil parties in the case, including the United States, according to several sources who attended. Abdallah, who hails from the north of Lebanon, was wounded as a teenager when the Zionist entity invaded the south of the country in 1978 in the early years of the Lebanese Civil War. As an adult, he founded the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions—LARF, a Marxist pro-Syria and anti- Zionist group that has now been dissolved. After his arrest in 1984, French police discovered submachine guns and transceiver stations in one of his Paris apartments. The appeals court in February however noted that the FARL 'had not committed a violent action since 1984' and that Abdallah 'today represented a past symbol of the Palestinian struggle'. Lebanon hosts tens of thousands of Palestinians, according to the United Nations, most descendants of those who fled or were expelled from their land during the creation of the Zionist entity in 1948. —AFP
