Lebanon has been experiencing a new crisis for several days, more discreet than the bankruptcy of the country or the explosion of the port of Beirut, a crisis at the heart of its judicial system. The very popular and leader of the 3rd Lebanese Republic Omar Harfouch is hit with an arrest warrant for espionage for allegedly meeting with Israelis at a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.
A little history is essential: Businessman, media, pianist Omar Harfouch with several lives which confuses his detractors and fascinates his friends. For several years he decided to get involved in the political life of his country Lebanon, the only country of which he has (by choice and by patriorist) the nationality. He has formed a movement called "The 3rd Lebanese Republic" which advocates a reform of the constitution to put an end to the confessionalist management of the country, to recognize civil marriage, equality between men and women and above all to put an end to the endemic corruption that has been ruining the country for decades. An unsuccessful candidate in the legislative elections in Tripoli last year, he did not appeal against the myriads of fraud that marred the ballot, preferring to focus on the fight against corruption in this country. He carries the fight all over the world and recently in the United States. Omar Harfouch met in New York and Washington with many officials and gave them evidence of massive corruption at the highest level of what remains of the Lebanese state. It was enough to trigger a judicial cabal worthy of Kafka. A judge issued a national arrest warrant against him at the request of the Lebanese Prime Minister, ( who is - the PM himself - prosecuted by the Monaco public prosecutor's office for corruption in an organized gang), for espionage on the pretext of an alleged presence with Israelis or Zionists in Brussels during of a conference at the European Parliament. Omar Harfouch invited to this conference to speak like many others. Nothing wrong with that. Even less criminal is the fact of wishing for one's country peace with the neighboring country! This pretext is all the more fallacious since Lebanon signed economic peace with Israel by concluding an agreement on gas exploitation. Agreement of which we know nothing except that it must benefit .. to the political elite of the country! The international community must come to the defense of Omar Harfouch, whistleblower and knight in the fight against corruption in Lebanon. He disturbs the comfort of those who transformed the country of the Cedars into a banana republic by ruining its population. Donor conferences and friends of Lebanon must open their eyes. The arbitrary procedure against Omar Harfouch constitutes the latest avatar of a moribund regime which has brought only ruin and misfortune Lebanon must regain its dignity and its place in the concert of Nations it is by driving out corruption that this return will be possible.
This article was written in cooperation with Friedman Institute