Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai on Saturday spoke about the brief detention of Archbishop of Haifa and the Holy Land Moussa al-Hage following his return from occupied Palestine, saying the cleric had undertaken a humanitarian act.
Here’s what we know:
• “There are Lebanese in the Holy Land and they have a role, presence and message seperate from Israeli policies,” he said in an interview with local television station MTV.
• Hage was detained in the southern Lebanese village of Ras al-Naqoura on Monday after he returned “as usual from his bishopric in the Holy Land,” according to a statement issued at the time by the Patriarchate.
• The Maronite church said that the cleric had been held for 12 hours, interrogated and had his passport and mobile phone confiscated, adding that General Security officers had also confiscated medical and monetary aid he had been transporting “on behalf of some needy and sick in Lebanon from all communities.”
• Rai on Saturday told MTV that “they said that we are agents, but we will not abandon our heart,” in reference to the controversy over a visit to occupied Palestine, which is not normally allowed for Lebanese nationals due to the hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.
• The Maronite Patriarchate has demanded the dismissal of Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki, who had ordered Hage’s arrest, a move rejected by caretaker Justice Minister Henry Khoury.