The Ministry of Justice in Beirut. (Credit: PHB/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — A network of nearly 30 people, including a lawyer and a TikTok “influencer,” are in the crosshairs of the Lebanese justice system, which suspects them of having sexually abused some 30 children, sometimes using the video-sharing platform to lure their victims. The gang is allegedly run by one of its members from abroad. Some of its members have been arrested, and others are the target of proceedings launched as part of the investigation.
In particular, on Monday, the Mount Lebanon Appeal Prosecutor's Office asked the Tripoli Bar Association in North Lebanon (which is independent of the Beirut Bar Association) for authorization to prosecute one of its members, which implies that the immunity he enjoys as a practitioner must be lifted. L'Orient-Le Jour has chosen to withhold the name, pending an official announcement from either the judiciary or the order.
A source in the Mount Lebanon public prosecutor's office told L'Orient-Le Jour that the union had received the request from the public prosecutor's office on Wednesday and that it would probably approve it fairly quickly due to the sensitivity of the issue. According to another anonymous judicial source we contacted, the man was being questioned Wednesday afternoon by his peers. He began the interview at 2 p.m. by the General Secretary of the Bar Council and the Government Commissioner of the Justice Ministry, as the head of the union was abroad. The person concerned, whom L'Orient-Le Jour attempted to contact several times, could not be reached. The same source added that the facts of which he is accused have no connection with the exercise of his mission as a lawyer, which is likely to speed up the order's approval of the request submitted by the authorities. A lawyer cannot be prosecuted without a waiver of their immunity by the Bar Council, except in cases of flagrante delicto, which is not the case, according to the source at the Public Prosecutor's Office.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, the order nevertheless assured that the information circulating about the involvement of one of its registered lawyers had not yet been proven, adding that the person concerned had not been arrested. However, the association had pledged to “take the necessary measures to enforce the law” if his involvement was proven.
A judicial official previously stated that 28 people linked to the TikTok affair had been identified. Around ten of the 28 have been arrested so far, including two on Tuesday. Their identities have not been disclosed. As part of the search, an appeal for witnesses was launched on Monday to find one of the other alleged members of the gang. In addition to the lawyer, justice has also set its sights on another gang member, living abroad, who is the subject of a warrant to appear issued on Tuesday. According to the state-run National News Agency, Tanios Saghbini, Attorney General at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, sent a letter to General Security asking them to clarify whether the suspect in question has left Lebanese territory and on what date.
The case came to light last Wednesday, when local media reported some of the details, following the decision of the parents of eight youngsters, more than a month ago, to lodge a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office against one of the suspects for the abuse suffered by their children. The head of the cybercrime squad, Patrick Obeid, then began investigating with the minors and their families.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.