Families of students abroad protested in front of the central bank Tuesday. (Annahar)
A group of parents of Lebanese students studying abroad protested in front of the central bank headquarters in Hamra over ongoing difficulties they have faced in transferring dollars out of the country to pay tuition fees. The families blocked the road and briefly scuffled with security forces while demanding implementation of a law allowing one-time transfers of $10,000 to students at foreign universities. Meanwhile, another set of families held a press conference at the office of the Lebanese Press Syndicate to call for the same thing.
Lebanon's top prosecutor announced he will not charge Carlos Ghosn in connection with a 2008 trip he took to Israel. A group of lawyers had filed a report in January against the fugitive ex-chief of Renault-Nissan over a visit he made to sign a partnership agreement with an Israeli car company. It is illegal for Lebanese citizens to enter Israel or to have contact with Israelis. However, Judge Ghassan Oueidat found that the 10-year statute of limitations had expired.
Lawmakers took a step toward creating a regulatory body that would oversee the pharmaceutical sector. Parliament's Administration and Justice Committee agreed in their meeting Tuesday to form a subcommittee to draw up legislation to create such an authority, which would oversee medicine produced locally as well as imports from abroad. Meanwhile, Assem Araji, the head of Parliament's health committee, said the committee supports the increasing calls for a two-week nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 and protect health care workers, as opposed to the piecemeal localized lockdowns that have been implemented in recent weeks.
All private hospitals have committed to opening dedicated units for COVID-19 patients, but the burden on hospitals remains heavy. Firass Abiad, the head of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, wrote on Twitter that while Lebanon had increased its number of critical care beds for COVID patients by 85 percent from Sept. 1 to Oct. 30, the number of critical COVID patients had increased by 178 percent in the same period, and the occupancy rate increased from 59 to 88 percent. Fifteen people died from coronavirus yesterday, while 1,512 tested positive.
Lawmakers discussed a draft law that would criminalize sexual harassment at Tuesday’s Administration and Justice Committee meeting, MP Inaya Ezzedine told L’Orient Today, but she said they did not finalize a version to be sent to the full Parliament. Ezzedine said there was some debate over the definition of sexual harassment — for instance, some of the MPs felt the conduct must be repetitive in nature to qualify — as well as over the penalty. In the current draft version, punishment is from six months to two years in jail along with a fine, with penalties increased in cases deemed more extreme. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said in a report today that Lebanon has failed to enact UN-recommended reforms that would protect women and girls from violence and ensure gender equality.
Embattled customs chief Badri Daher appeared before Beirut First Investigative Judge Charbel Bou Samra, who issued an arrest warrant against him for allegedly lifting the travel ban on a Saudi prince who was caught trying to smuggle captagon through Lebanon. Daher was already detained as part of the ongoing investigation into the Beirut port explosion. In the case of Saudi Prince Abdel-Mohsen bin Walid Al Saud, who was arrested in 2015 for allegedly loading 1,900 kilos of captagon pills on a private plane, Daher allegedly facilitated the prince’s departure from the country earlier this year.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon will give updates today on the case of Salim Ayyash, who is accused of the murder and attempted murders of three Lebanese politicians. The international court, based in The Hague, will hold a public hearing to discuss preparations for the case to go to trial. Ayyash, who was convicted in August of being the primary actor in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, is facing charges for the killing of George Hawi, a former secretary-general of the Lebanese Communist Party, and the attempted murders of former ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias Murr. The hearing will be live-streamed on the STL’s website from 11:30 a.m. Beirut time.
