A phone with the TikTok app opened. (Credit: Loïc Venance/AFP)
BEIRUT – A minor who was raped by a man allegedly a member of the recently-exposed TikTok child pornography ring took their own life in early May, the Internal Security Forces announced in a statement released on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old man, nicknamed "Appo," appeared in a photo released by the ISF on June 4, alongside another man nicknamed "Jovi." Both were allegedly involved in the TikTok child pornography ring. "Appo" has confessed to raping the minor, according to a source at the ISF.
They are among 16 people arrested for involvement in the network that sometimes used TikTok to lure and assault minors, in a case that was exposed by the ISF in early May. The assaults were filmed and sold on the dark web. Those arrested include a hairdresser, a ready-to-wear retailer famous on TikTok, a dentist, a lawyer, a photographer, a cab driver and a man who was responsible for transferring money between the members of the group. Four minors were also arrested.
The charges laid against the 16 suspects include at least one or more of the following: Rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, human trafficking (sexual exploitation) and money laundering (trading in child rape films) — among other charges.
Death of a minor linked to TikTok child abuse ring
After the Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Protection Unit arrested individuals "involved in a case of sexual assaults on minors," new details came to light about the rape of the minor, V.M.*, who later ended their own life on May 1.
The ISF said that in the course of its investigations, "it became clear that the minor had been raped by Appo," who owns a clothing store in Burj Hammoud. Testimonies from other victims, along with the detainees' confessions, revealed that the two men had sexually assaulted numerous minors, some of whom remain unidentified.
Before ending their life, V.M. received three threatening voice messages via WhatsApp from a friend known in the ISF report as T.O.
Appo and another person referred to by the initials B.N. and nicknamed "Steven" in the ISF report, had blackmailed T.O. into luring V.M. to the clothing store in Burj Hammoud, an eastern suburb of Beirut. T.O., also a minor, was also raped by Appo and Steven.
Members of the ring still wanted abroad
Jovi and Appo have both been arrested. However, the ISF says it is looking for Steven, who is outside the country.
Other suspects are also believed to be abroad, prompting Tanios Saghbini, public prosecutor at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, to send rogatory letters to the countries in which they are thought to be located, asking the authorities there for legal assistance. He also issued two arrest warrants, via Interpol, for two suspects — one in Dubai and the other in Sweden.
In May, details of the ring, in which some 30 people are said to be involved, became known to the public when local media reported on the case, following a decision on the part of eight children's parents to lodge child abuse allegations with the Public Prosecutor's Office against one of the suspects. The head of the ISF's cybercrime unit, Patrick Obeid, then began investigating the case with the minors and their families.
On May 28, a lawyer who is a member of the bar in Tripoli, was arrested by the ISF intelligence unit in connection with the child pornography network.
The Tripoli Bar Association Council also said that it is launching "a hotline to provide support to victims targeted by criminal hands, aiming to cooperate with educational and social institutions in raising awareness of families and their children." The hotline number is 81/519782.
*Initials provided in ISF's statement were changed to protect minors' identity.
