BEIRUT — On Wednesday, the family of Richard Kharrat, a doctor who was released at the end of April after a month of detention in Abu Dhabi for allegedly publishing offensive tweets towards the United Arab Emirates, thanked Lebanese President Michel Aoun and the director of the General Security Abbas Ibrahim among other officials for their assistance in Kharrat’s release.
Here’s what we know:
• In a press release, the doctor's family welcomed "the efforts that made the return [of Kharrat] to his country, to his family, his patients and his relatives.” The family also thanked the President of the Order of Physicians Charaf Abou Charaf for his support, as well as other "religious and political individuals.” The doctor’s relatives continued to thank the Lebanese lawyers Marc Madkour, Joelle Chakar and Celine Atallah and the Emirati lawyers Ali Mosbeh and Habib al-Hassani “for their dedication and their efforts which led to the successful conclusion of the case.”
• Kharrat had been arrested last month in the United Arab Emirates during his stay in a hotel in Abu Dhabi. Many believe that Kharrat was arrested due to a series of tweets he published. Between 2017 and 2020, Kharrat had published tweets considered derogatory towards the United Arab Emirates.
• The doctor was also accused of having caused the death of two premature babies of journalist Nicole Hajal in Lebanon at the time of their birth. He is the subject of a complaint in Lebanon brought by Hajal. Many people on social media had voiced their suspicion of her being behind the doctor's arrest in the Emirates. However, these accusations were denied by Hajal.