View of the meeting. (Credit: NNA.)
BEIRUT — MP Ashraf Rifi and other anti-Hezbollah lawmakers criticized the justice system on Wednesday for failing to act on their complaint against Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Naim Qassem, which has been pending with Judge Jamal Hajjar’s office for over 21 days without being sent for investigation.
“On Aug. 27, 2025, MPs Ashraf Rifi, Elias Khoury, Georges Okais, Camille Chamoun, former MP Eddy Abillama, and the president of the Change Party, Elie Mahfoud, filed a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, under number 2021/M/2025, against the secretary-general of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem,” recalled a statement released by the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
The Hezbollah leader is accused “of inciting civil war, stirring sectarian tensions, and rebelling against the state.”
The plaintiffs say they have decided, for this reason, to “carry out a preliminary verification” before initiating “judicial appeals before the relevant authorities, namely the justice minister and the president of the Supreme Judicial Council.” They also say they are considering “initiating criminal proceedings before any judicial body authorized to rule on such complaints.”
At the same time, the plaintiffs denounce “a blatant violation” after a judge accepted the criminal complaint filed by Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Moussawi against Ashraf Rifi. This complaint was deemed admissible and a hearing was set to question General Rifi before Beirut’s first investigative judge, they add.
“General Rifi has been informed that he must appear for incitement to sectarian hatred, which constitutes a blatant violation of the Lebanese Constitution and the parliamentary immunity it guarantees,” they say, questioning “how the judiciary can act against an MP of the Lebanese Parliament who cannot be prosecuted, while the criminal complaint against the head of a militia, who threatens and continues to threaten civil peace by flagrantly violating Lebanese laws, is ignored.”
The plaintiffs reaffirm their determination to pursue their complaint against Qassem, stressing their willingness to “uphold the law and apply legal principles to protect Lebanon and its people.”
