A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For January 04-05/2020 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 80th Day
Compiled By: Elias Bejjani
January 05/2020
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on January04- 05/2020
Soleimani Faced The righteous Justice/Elias Bejjani/January 03/2020
No For Arresting & Imprisoning Dr. Issam Khalefe/Elias Bejjani/January 03/2020
We’re paying the price of our stupidity/Roger Bejjani/Face Book/January 04/2020
Frangieh offers condolences at Iranian Embassy
Lebanon receives first batch of gasoline to Zahrani Oil Installations
Akkar Banks Closed after Tension
Lebanon Receives First Batch of State-Imported Gasoline
Ghosn Lawyer Feels Betrayal, Sympathy over Tycoon Japan Escape
Ghosn lawyer says former Nissan boss ‘betrayed’ Him
Ghosn lawyer outraged by Japan’s justice system as by escape
Fugitive Lebanese tycoon seeks haven in country gripped by turmoil/Samar Kadi/The Arab Weekly/January 05/2020
Government formation in Lebanon still facing obstacles/Najia Houssari/Arab News/January 05/2020
Aoun promises Cabinet in a week as Mideast tensions escalate/Georgi Azar/Annahar/January 04/2020
Details Of The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on January 04-05/2020
Soleimani Faced The righteous Justice
Elias Bejjani/January 03/2020
Killing of Kassem Soleimani is actually the killing and exposure of the false, paper-based Mullah’s Military aura and prestige. Meanwhile the joy of the Arab people for Soleimani’s assassination demonstrates their deeply rooted hatred and contempt for the hostile terrorist and expansionist Mullah’s stone age oppressive regime.
No For Arresting & Imprisoning Dr. Issam Khalefe
Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
The biased judiciary arrest verdict against Dr. Issam Khalefe is an insult and contempt for each and every sovereign, independent, honourable, and free Lebanese citizen. In summary the Lebanese regime officials from top to bottom are corrupt, The country is occupied, The politicians are mere puppets, and the Judiciary is biased and politicized
We’re paying the price of our stupidity.
Roger Bejjani/Face Book/January 04/2020
If we had to rewrite history a la Tarantino, what should have been done:
1. Palestinians and Arabs should have accepted UN resolution 181 that has created for the first time in history the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel. Ok they did not and declared war on Israel.
2. Lebanon should not have joined the other Arab Armies in attacking Israel in 1948. We did. We signed an armistice agreement.
3. Lebanon should not have violated the 1948 armistice agreement by allowing the Palestinians using South Lebanon as a base to attack Israel (Cairo accords). We did.
4. Lebanon should have implemented the 17 May 1983 accords that stipulated the peaceful withdrawal of all Israeli Troops from Lebanon. We did not.
5. Lebanon should have not allowed Hezbollah to monopolise a resistance we did not need (since we had the 17 May accords). We did.
6. Lebanon should have prioritized its relations with the west and Arab Gulf countries. We did not.
7. Lebanon should have declared itself as totally neutral vis a vis all regional conflicts. We did not.
We’re paying the price of our stupidity.
To my Lebanese Shi’a friends. And I have plenty of them including many of the top athletes in Inter Lebanon, a Club I have founded and do preside.
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To my Lebanese Shi’a friends. And I have plenty of them including many of the top athletes in Inter Lebanon, a Club I have founded and do preside.
1. I am an Atheist.
2. I never judge people based on their religion or color or origin.
3. I judge them based on their actions and opinions.
4. My very negative and aggressive opinion towards Hezbollah is unrelated to religion. It is the same that I have towards Daesh who are Sunni or the Aounist idiots who are Christians.
5. Iraqi Shi’a in their majority (and they are 18 times more numerous than Lebanese Shi’a) share my opinion towards Hezbollah and same applies to the greatest majority of Iranians who hate Hezbollah. So Hezbollah followers in Lebanon or the ones obfuscated by my verbal attacks against the terror group represent a tiny majority of the Shi’a worldwide.
The greatest majority of Shi’a worldwide agree with me.
6. I do not associate Hezbollah to Shi’a.
and vice versa. I evaluate Hezbollah on its own merit the same way i evaluate any other hate and terror groups. The religion they carry is not of my concern.
Frangieh offers condolences at Iranian Embassy
NNA/January 04/2020
Marada Movement leader, Sleiman Frangieh, visited on Saturday the Iranian Embassy, where he offered his heartfelt condolences for the loss of General Qassem Soleimani.
Lebanon receives first batch of gasoline to Zahrani Oil Installations
NNA/January 04/2020
Lebanon recieved Saturday the first batch of gasoline to the Zahrani Oil Installations, after the ZR Energy company won a state tender to import 150,000 tons of gasoline. Caretaker Minister of Energy Nada Boustani, who recieved the gasoline shipment, said that “there will be no fuel crisis from this day on,” adding that fuel distributers came to receive the shipment to then distribute to gas stations. She added that the first ship that arrived today holds around 24,000 tons of fuel and that the “Lebanese Army will be the first receiving from the shipment.”
Akkar Banks Closed after Tension
Naharnet/January 04/2020
Banks in Akkar’s Halba and al-Abdeh areas were closed on Saturday after a day of tension in one of the banks that saw scuffles and tear gas bombs hurled inside. All the banks closed their doors “until further notice” based on a decision of the Association of Banks in Lebanon.
ABL issued a notice on Friday protesting what happened in BLOM bank in Halba when security forces scuffled with protesters “insisting that the bank pays the dues of one of the depositors.”The bank’s facades were shattered in the scuffle and so were the furniture inside. Videos circulated on social media have shown tear gas grenade hurled inside the bank to disperse the protesters. Amid a spiraling financial crisis, Lebanese banks have imposed informal withdrawal limits of a maximum $300 a week and totally halted transfers abroad. Anti-government protesters, who largely blame the country’s dire economy on corrupt politicians, say the limits are illegal and have turned their ire against bank officials and the financial sector.
Lebanon Receives First Batch of State-Imported Gasoline
Naharnet/January 04/2020
Caretaker Minister of Energy Nada al-Bustani announced on Saturday that Lebanon received its first shipment of gasoline on behalf of the state to avoid any fuel shortage in the future. “Lebanon will no longer be gripped by gasoline crisis now that Lebanon received its first batch of state-imported gasoline,” said Bustani. “The first fuel vessel docked today has a capacity of 24 thousand tons of fuel and the rest of the shipments will arrive simultaneously,” she added. In December, Bustani awarded Lebanese ZR Energy regional energy trader the contract for importing gasoline on behalf of the state to avoid a fuel crisis.
Ghosn Lawyer Feels Betrayal, Sympathy over Tycoon Japan Escape
Associated Press/Naharnet/January 04/2020
A lawyer for former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said Saturday he felt betrayed by his client’s escape from Japan but still understood his act, claiming it resulted from Japan’s inhumane justice system.
The international tycoon, who faces multiple charges of financial misconduct that he denies, jumped bail and fled to Lebanon in late December to avoid a Japanese trial. “First, I was filled with a sense of strong anger. I felt betrayed,” Ghosn’s lawyer Takashi Takano wrote in his blog, stating that he had not been informed about the plan in advance. “But anger was turning to something else as I recalled how he was treated by the country’s justice system,” Takano said. Ghosn is thought to have taken a private jet from Kansai Airport in western Japan, heading for Istanbul. It is believed he headed from there to Beirut. “I can easily imagine that if people with wealth, human networks and ability to take action have the same experience (as Ghosn), they would do the same thing or at least consider doing so,” Takano said. Ghosn’s high-profile arrest in November 2018 and his long detention under severe conditions were widely considered draconian compared with the West. Suspects in Japan can be detained for weeks or even months before trial, with limited access to their lawyers, and around 99 percent of trials in the country result in a conviction. Critics including rights groups such as Amnesty International have derided Japan’s system as “hostage justice”, designed to break morale and force confessions from suspects. When safely in Lebanon, Ghosn pressed this point again, saying he “would no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system”. Another lawyer for Ghosn, Junichiro Hironaka, on Saturday also said that harsh bail conditions — notably the restrictions on contact with his wife Carole — appeared to have motivated the tycoon’s escape. “He did not know when he can meet his wife … and there was no prospect for a change in his bail conditions,” Hironaka told reporters. “I guess these things were really tough for him,” the lawyer said. A Tokyo court banned Ghosn from contacting his wife despite several petitions from his legal team describing the measure as “cruel and a punishment”. He was later permitted to speak to her via videoconference only. While Japanese prosecutors have launched an investigation, the circumstances of Ghosn’s Hollywood-like flight from Japan are still unclear.
Ghosn lawyer says former Nissan boss ‘betrayed’ Him
Al Jazeera/January 04/2020
Lawyer for ex-Nissan chief says he was angry over his client’s escape but now understands his decision to flee Japan.
A lawyer for former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has said he felt betrayed by his client’s escape from Japan but still understood his act, claiming it resulted from Japan’s inhumane justice system. The international tycoon, who faces multiple charges of financial misconduct that he denies, jumped bail and fled to Lebanon in late December to avoid a Japanese trial. “First, I was filled with a sense of strong anger. I felt betrayed,” Ghosn’s lawyer Takashi Takano wrote in his blog, stating that he had not been informed about the plan in advance. “But anger was turning to something else as I recalled how he was treated by the country’s justice system,” Takano said. Ghosn is thought to have taken a private jet from Kansai Airport in western Japan, heading for Istanbul. It is believed he headed from there to Beirut. “I can easily imagine that if people with wealth, human networks and ability to take action have the same experience (as Ghosn), they would do the same thing or at least consider doing so,” Takano said. Ghosn’s high-profile arrest in November 2018 and his long detention under severe conditions were widely considered draconian compared with the West. Suspects in Japan can be detained for weeks or even months before trial, with limited access to their lawyers, and around 99 percent of trials in the country result in a conviction.
Critics including rights groups such as Amnesty International have derided Japan’s system as “hostage justice”, designed to break morale and force confessions from suspects. When safely in Lebanon, Ghosn pressed this point again, saying he “would no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system”.
Another lawyer for Ghosn, Junichiro Hironaka, on Saturday also said that harsh bail conditions – notably the restrictions on contact with his wife Carole – appeared to have motivated the tycoon’s escape. “He did not know when he can meet his wife … and there was no prospect for a change in his bail conditions,” Hironaka told reporters.
“I guess these things were really tough for him,” the lawyer said.
A Tokyo court banned Ghosn from contacting his wife despite several petitions from his legal team describing the measure as “cruel and a punishment”. He was later permitted to speak to her via video conference only. While Japanese prosecutors have launched an investigation, the circumstances of Ghosn’s Hollywood-like flight from Japan are still unclear. Citing three sources familiar with the matter, Reuters news agency reported on Saturday that Ghosn left his Tokyo residence after a private security firm hired by Nissan stopped monitoring him. Nissan had hired a private security company to watch Ghosn, who was on bail and awaiting trial, to check whether he met any people involved in the case, the sources said. But his lawyers warned the security company to stop watching him as it would be a violation of his human rights, and Ghosn was planning to file a complaint against the company, the sources said. The security company stopped its surveillance by December 29, the sources said. Ghosn faces four charges – which he denies – including hiding income and enriching himself through payments to dealerships in the Middle East.
Ghosn lawyer outraged by Japan’s justice system as by escape
Associated Press/January 04/2020
The major Japanese daily Sankei reported Saturday that his flight happened just as a private security company hired by Nissan Motor Co. to keep watch over Ghosn stopped work.
TOKYO: A lawyer for former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn said Saturday that he felt outraged and betrayed by his client’s escape from Japan to Lebanon, but also expressed an understanding for his feelings of not being able to get a fair trial.
“My anger gradually began to turn to something else,” Takashi Takano wrote in his blog post.
Referring to Japan’s judicial system, he said, “I was betrayed, but the one who betrayed me is not Carlos Ghosn.”
Takano described how Ghosn had been barred from seeing his wife, in what Takano called a violation of human rights, and how Ghosn worried whether he would get a fair trial because of prosecutors’ leaks to the media and the prospect that the legal process may take years.
Ghosn, who was awaiting trial in Japan on financial misconduct charges, was last seen on surveillance video leaving his Tokyo home alone on Dec. 29, presumably to board his getaway plane.
Although the security cameras at his home were on 24 hours a day, the footage was only required to be submitted to the court once a month, on the 15th, according to lawyers’ documents detailing Ghosn’s bail conditions.
Takano, the main lawyer on Ghosn’s team in charge of his bail, acknowledged that most suspects would not be able to pull off an escape like Ghosn’s. But if they could, “they certainly would have tried,” he said.
Takano said he told Ghosn that in all the cases he has handled, there has been none in which the evidence was so scant, and that the chances for winning an innocent verdict were good, even if the trial was not fair.
Takano said the last time he saw Ghosn was Christmas Eve, when he was sitting in on the one-hour video call between Ghosn and his wife, Carole. Under the bail conditions, a lawyer’s presence is required for the calls, and the length of the call is also restricted.
Takano, who is fluent in English, quoted Ghosn as expressing his unfailing love for his family, ending the call with an “I love you.”
Ghosn is known for never having missed a Christmas with his family despite the arduous schedule of an auto executive.
Takano said he had never before felt such disgust over Japan’s legal system.
He apologized to Ghosn after the call, saying he felt shame, and promised to do his utmost in the court case.
Ghosn did not reply, Takano recalled in the blog post, which says the opinions are his own and not of the entire legal team.
The major Japanese daily Sankei reported Saturday that Ghosn’s flight took off just as a private security company hired by Nissan Motor Co. to keep watch over Ghosn stopped work.
Ghosn had been preparing a complaint against the security company, according to Sankei.
Another lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, has complained that spying on his client was a violation of human rights, but he declined to say who might be behind it.
Nissan was closed for the holidays and not immediately available for comment. Sankei said Nissan was worried the surveillance conditions set by the Japanese court weren’t sufficient to keep tabs on Ghosn.
Hironaka told public broadcaster NHK TV late Friday that Ghosn had carried one of his French passports in a locked plastic case so that it could be read without unlocking, in case he was stopped by authorities. The lawyers had the key. Hironaka told NHK that the case could have been smashed with a hammer. Hironaka has denied any knowledge of the escape.
All foreigners in Japan are required to have their passports with them to show to police or other officials. It is unclear whether the French passport is the one Ghosn used to enter Lebanon.
Lebanese authorities have said Ghosn entered the country legally on a French passport, though he had been required to surrender all his passports to his lawyers under the terms of his bail. He also holds Brazilian and Lebanese citizenship.
Video footage at Ghosn’s home shows him walking out Dec. 29, according to NHK. An earlier report said he was carted out inside a musical instrument case.
Turkish airline MNG Jet said two of its planes were used illegally in Ghosn’s escape, first flying him from Osaka, Japan, to Istanbul, and then on to Beirut, where he arrived Monday and has not been seen since.
It said a company employee had admitted to falsifying flight records so that Ghosn’s name did not appear, adding that he acted “in his individual capacity” without MNG Jet’s knowledge. The company did not say to whom the jets were leased or identify the employee.
Interpol has issued a wanted notice for Ghosn. Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon and it appeared unlikely he would be handed over.
It’s not clear how Japan might respond.
The defiant and stunning escape of such a high-profile suspect has raised serious questions about the surveillance methods of the Japanese bail system.
Some may argue bail decisions should become more stringent, when bail is already restricted in Japan compared to the U.S. Trials and preparations before they start take far longer in Japan, where the conviction rate is higher than 99%.
Electronic tethers common in the U.S. are not used in Japan for bail. Ghosn had offered to wear one when he requested bail.
Government offices were shut down for the New Year’s holiday, and there have been no official statements.
Ghosn, who has said in a statement that he left to avoid Japan’s “injustice,” is set to speak to reporters in Beirut on Wednesday.
He has repeatedly said he is innocent, stressing that the charges were trumped up to block a fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA of France.
He has been charged in Japan with underreporting his future compensation and breach of trust in funneling Nissan money for personal use. Ghosn says the income was never decided, and the payments were for legitimate business.
No date was set for his trial, although his lawyers were aiming for April.
Fugitive Lebanese tycoon seeks haven in country gripped by turmoil
Samar Kadi/The Arab Weekly/January 05/2020
Activists see Ghosn’s return to Beirut as yet another manifestation of impunity by the super-rich.
BEIRUT – Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, who stunned the world by fleeing to Lebanon from Japan where he was held under tight house arrest pending trial on financial misconduct charges, could stand trial in Lebanon after an Interpol arrest warrant was issued for him.
The Interpol Red Notice, which calls on authorities to arrest a wanted person, was received by Lebanon’s internal security forces but had not yet been referred to the judiciary. Ghosn, a Lebanese national who also holds Brazilian and French citizenships, is unlikely to be extradited to Japan, said lawyer Mohammad Farid Mattar.“Usually when there is an international arrest warrant, the fugitive or the suspect is either extradited or arrested by the local authorities but Lebanon does not extradite its citizens to foreign states and there is no extradition treaty between Lebanon and Japan,” Mattar said.
It was not clear if Ghosn would be summoned for questioning over the warrant. Lebanese authorities said Ghosn entered the country legally using his French passport and Lebanese identification. He arrived in Beirut December 31 on a private jet via Istanbul.
“He could enter Lebanon because there was no international arrest warrant issued against him yet. However, he could have his passport confiscated now,” Mattar said. “Japan can always file a lawsuit against Ghosn in Lebanon, which means it would accept Lebanese jurisdiction. In that case, he could stand trial in Lebanese courts.”
The French-Lebanese vehicle mogul was charged on several counts of financial misconduct, which he has repeatedly denied. The circumstances of his escape from Japan remain unclear. He disclosed his arrival in Lebanon in a statement in which he said he was not escaping trial but “a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant and basic human rights are denied.”
Ghosn was reportedly distressed by the conditions of his house arrest granted on a $14 million bail on two separate releases. He was not allowed to speak to his wife and family and his access to internet communication was largely curtailed. His lead Japanese lawyer Junichiro Hironaka said he was stunned that Ghosn had jumped bail and that lawyers held three passports belonging to him. Japanese public broadcaster NHK revealed that the Japanese authorities allowed Ghosn to carry a spare French passport in a locked case while on bail. In Lebanon people take special pride in auto-industry icon Ghosn, who is credited with leading a spectacular turnaround at Nissan beginning in the late 1990s, and who rescued the company from near bankruptcy. When he was arrested in November 2018, many dismissed charges brought against him as “a conspiracy” by Japanese firm Nissan. A public campaign was even launched in his defence under the slogan “We are all Carlos Ghosn.”The mood has since changed and, weeks into an unprecedented wave of protests against corruption and nepotism in Lebanon, activists see his return to Beirut as yet another manifestation of impunity by the super-rich.
*Samar Kadi is the Arab Weekly society and travel section editor.
Government formation in Lebanon still facing obstacles
Najia Houssari/Arab News/January 05/2020
Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani’s assassination potentially adds to list of internal issues
BEIRUT: The first week of the New Year ended without the formation of a new government to rescue Lebanon from an economic crisis. The process of forming a government still faces obstacles, including the refusal of three main parties to participate in it: The Future Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Lebanese Forces Party. President Michel Aoun said a government could be formed next week. His media adviser Rafiq Shalala told Arab News: “There are changes in the names of Christian figures and some Muslim figures underway. There’s an attempt to rearrange the names after the portfolios were distributed to all parties. Work is underway to substitute some of the names with others.”There have been many leaks regarding names that have been chosen to participate in the government, which will consist of only 18 ministers. The issue of the participation of some of them has been settled, while others have faced objections from influential parties. Tarek Mitri, a former minister, told Arab News that it is unlikely that regional developments will have “a direct impact on the formation of the government.”He said: “The rules for forming a government are constantly changing, and the parties in power practice their old habits … What people expect from the authority hasn’t been taken into account.”He added: “The parties are choosing new acceptable faces, but since the beginning of the discussion about forming a government, we haven’t heard a useful sentence about … how to deal with the problems that Lebanon is facing, as if politics just means fighting for Cabinet seats and the remnants of power.”Activist Nemat Bader Al-Deen told Arab News that the “vacuum” regarding forming a government is “harmful, especially in light of the current economic crisis.”He said activists are “following leaks about the names of the personalities that may be part of the government. We can’t determine our position on them before we know who they are.”He added: “What we do know is that the parties in power still impose who they want. The criterion on which we’ll accept or reject the government is the integrity of these personalities. Is there suspicion of corruption around them? Do they take their instructions from the parties in power?”Bader Al-Deen said: “The most important thing we demand is knowledge of the government’s program and how it will face monetary policies. We want a ministerial statement biased toward the middle and poor classes, and policies that protect people and guarantee the independence of the judiciary and the restoration of looted money.”He added: “If the situation remains the same, it will be answered with a second wave of the revolution that’s more violent than its predecessor. There’s hidden hunger and rising unemployment, and Lebanon faces foreign entitlements that must be paid next March.”
FASTFACT
The process of forming a government faces obstacles, including the refusal of three main parties to participate in it: The Future Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Lebanese Forces Party. Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab is continuing his political meetings to overcome the remaining obstacles and reservations about some names. Meanwhile, the political community is waiting to see whether Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah will link government formation with the US assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday. MP Fadi Karam, secretary of the Strong Republic parliamentary bloc, said: “We as Lebanese, if we’re aware of the interest of our country, shouldn’t let regional events affect our internal situation.”He added: “Our sole goal should be to save the economic situation we’re going through, regardless of what happens in the region.”
He said: “We as Lebanese can’t bear the repercussions of these events on our internal situation. As Lebanese, we must agree to keep Lebanon neutral, because if a team decides to continue linking Lebanon to regional events, this would have severe consequences for the country.”
Aoun promises Cabinet in a week as Mideast tensions escalate
Georgi Azar/Annahar/January 04/2020
BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun expressed hope Friday that a new government would be formed by next week, saying that it would bolster confidence both locally and abroad.
Aoun took to Twitter to assert that the government would go a long way in dealing with the current financial crisis gripping Lebanon.
“I hope that the government will see the light next week,” Aoun tweeted.
Aoun also vowed to implement the Mckinsey plan, which was released last year, in a bid to revamp Lebanon’s ailing economic model.
“Work is underway to form a government comprised of new faces of experts in a bid to deal with the current situation and respond to the aspirations of the Lebanese,” the president said.
Ever since he assumed office, Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab has pledged to follow through on protestor’s demands to form a Cabinet made up of experts with no political affiliations.
Diab, however, was nominated by Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah, and the Amal Movement, casting doubt on any Cabinet’s true independence.
Aoun’s comments came hours after the U.S launched an airstrike near Baghdad’s airport, killing Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.
In response, Iran vowed “harsh retaliation” for the killing of its top general, who had been the architect of its interventions across the Middle East.
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, condemned the attack, labeling it a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a dangerous escalation against Iran that would increase tensions in the region.”
“Lebanon always encourages dialogue, restraint and wisdom to solve problems instead of using force and violence in regional and international relations,” a statement by the ministry read.
It also called on all stakeholders to spare the region and Lebanon of “any repercussions of the attack as it battles with a stifling economic and financial crisis.”
The Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah vowed that the party would follow in the footsteps of Soleimani, underscoring that the “murderous Americans would not be able, God willing, to achieve any of their goals with this great crime”.
Iranian top officials were quick to lambast the killing, promising swift and severe retaliation for the assassination
“We will avenge Soleimani death at the right time and in the right place,” a top official said Friday, labeling the attack as the U.S’ biggest strategic mistake in decades.
