Mount Lebanon Judge Ghada Aoun slammed the Lebanese Journalist Marcel Ghanem over an episode of “Sar El-Wa’t” streamed on March 17th on the national MTV Lebanon channel.
In the episode, Ghanem made an introduction about how Lebanon, especially with the elections approaching, is currently being controlled by a corrupted interest-made political class led by Hezbollah and its allies, where the evidence can be also found in recent Judge Ghada Aoun’s recent moves.
He described the Judge’s recent actions against the banks and their directors as “political and electoral” measures.
He said that “if it is not the case, why didn’t she investigate the Tayyouneh shootings or Al-Qard Al-Hassan Institution [of Hezbollah] when she was asked to, or not even spoke about the Captagon traffic case instead of focusing only on Raja Salameh’s arrest.”
In a statement, Judge Aoun, who is close to President Michel Aoun’ and his party, asked the Supreme Judicial Council to take a “clear position” about “this unjustified and harmful targeting” of her person, which she deemed to be against “the entire judicial body” as a way of intimidation.
“Of course, I reserve all my rights to file a lawsuit against the aforementioned media person,” she concluded in her statement.
According to local media Annahar, Judge Aoun has indeed filed a direct “personal” lawsuit against Marcel Ghanem and MTV Lebanon for alleged “libel and slander” against her persona and included the lawyer Mark Habaka in her lawsuit.
The public opinion has been divided in their reactions, with some expressing support for Judge Aoun and some against her.
Multiple Lebanese journalists and politicians defended Marcel Ghanem, asserting that engaging in legal actions against him in this situation would be against the principle of freedom of expression and opinion.
Judge Aoun has been recently targeting Lebanon-based banks and their directors with a series of legal actions, freezing their assets and issuing travel bans against some. Among these banks are Bank Audi, Bankmed, Fransabank, Blom Bank, SGBL, and Bank of Beirut.
Fransabank had to close down and stop its monetary operations until its appeal to unfreeze its assets was granted, and the Association of Banks declared a 2-day strike, early this week, warning that Judge Aoun’s actions will topple the banking sector in Lebanon.
