MP Paula Yaacoubian speaking at the protest. (Credit: screencap from Al-Jadeed broadcast)
BEIRUT — Activists held a sit-in at the Beirut Justice Palace Thursday to protest “repeated crimes against children and marginalized communities,” Al-Jadeed television reported.
Here’s what we know:
• The protest comes days after a former Lebanese Army soldier was arrested on suspicion of molesting multiple children, a case that was transferred to the investigating judge in the Bekaa. Among those attending the protest were MPs Paula Yaacoubian, Najat Aoun and Cynthia Zarazir, along with performer Maya Diab.
• “We want to raise our voices to attain justice, because [sexual molesters have] ruined the lives of many children. He’s a criminal, a monster and courts should carry out the most severe punishment,” Aoun said, explaining that the call for trying the case in civil, rather than military, court was to guarantee that the trial is “continuously monitor[ed].”
• “Women and children aren’t protected in Lebanon … There’s an MP who beat his wife [so severely that] she ended up in the hospital,” Yaacoubian said. ”There’s a report from the medical examiner showing this but [efforts are being made to cover up the matter.”
• “Maybe the views of my fellow activists who suppport human rights and are against capital punishment are different from my own,” Diab said, “but for me 10 years in prison aren’t enough for someone who raped 20 children. I’m in favor of [his] execution.”