Akkar Sheikh Ahmad al-Rifai, who was killed in recent days in an alleged family dispute. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Lawyers representing Hezbollah appealed on Tuesday against activists who they said have been accusing the party of involvement in murdering a Sunni religious sheikh in Akkar, the lawyers said in a statement.
They accused the activists of spreading "sedition" and provoking "sectarian strife."
The Akkar-based Sheikh Ahmed Shuaib al-Rifai had been a vocal critic of Hezbollah.
The Hezbollah-affiliated lawyers filed a complaint to the Public Prosecution at the Court of Cassation to open an investigation against a number of journalists, activists and ex-MPs.
In the statement Tuesday, the lawyers said that critics "took advantage of the disappearance of Sheikh Ahmed Shuaib al-Rifai to spread sedition, provoke sectarian strife and divide people in order to create tensions," adding that the critics had "turned social media and some media outlets into platforms for filing false accusations against ... Hezbollah."
After Rifai's body was uncovered over the weekend, Hezbollah issued a separate statement dismissing the accusations toward it, saying that "political forces, politicians, clerics, media, journalists and activists have been directing unjust accusations against us without evidence and without justification."
"They have worked to endanger the country, its unity, stability and civil peace, and work maliciously to create discord among Muslims without the slightest national responsibility or moral or humanitarian deterrent," the statement said.
Rifai’s body was found buried in Akkar on Sunday, a week after his disappearance. Five suspects who allegedly kidnapped and killed the cleric over a family dispute were arrested.
Lebanon's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian called on security forces to accelerate the investigation into Rifai’s death, while thanking them for having “quickly identified the criminals, avoided sedition and put an end to the rumors that accompanied this incident.”
Rifai was known for his hostile stance on Hezbollah and the pro-Iranian axis in Lebanon. Press reports claimed that the sheikh’s latest sermon addressed drug trafficking in areas under Hezbollah's influence.