Activist and lawyer Wassef Harakeh. (Photo from his Facebook account)
BEIRUT — Activist and lawyer Wassef Harakeh announced Tuesday that he was summoned to appear before Beirut's examining magistrate Assaad Bayram on July 4, adding that he is accused of "contempt and threating a magistrate."
The summons follows a complaint lodged against Harakeh in February by the public prosecutor at the Beirut Appeals Court, Zaher Hamadeh, who is close to the leader of the Amal Movement, Nabih Berri.
Reacting to his summons, Harakeh said in an Instagram post that the accusations were "false."
"We have clues and evidence that we will disclose at the appropriate time," he added, denouncing a "falsification of files and facts."
"Given that this case is linked to the investigation into the explosions at the Beirut port, my decision was clear from the outset: I will not appear at any hearings until the people being prosecuted in this investigation do so," the lawyer said.
In February, Harakeh told L'Orient Today that the complaint lodged against him by Judge Hamadeh was linked to the mobilizations by relatives of the victims of the Beirut port explosion and opposition MPs on Jan. 26 against the decision taken by Attorney General at the Court of Cassation Ghassan Oueidat the day before — to prosecute the judge leading the investigation into the port blast, Tarek Bitar, and to release all the detainees in the case.
Being the lawyer of an activist who entered the headquarters of the Justice Ministry during Jan. 26 protests, Harakeh was authorized to also enter the premises at the time. However, Harakeh was then ordered by a policeman to evacuate the premises.
In response to Harakeh's refusal to leave the Justice Ministry's premises and the verbal altercation between him and the policeman, Judge Hamadeh ordered the lawyer's arrest.