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In a statement after an extraordinary meeting of the bishops in Diman headed by Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi, the church described what happened with Al-Hajj as “arrogance.” While it considered that it “was perpetrated pre-conceived and determined, at a remarkable and suspicious time, and for known malicious ends,” the church called for “stop this security-judicial-political play, and to return all the aid that was withheld to the bishop so that the trusts reach their owners who are waiting for them, and to close this case.” immediately”.
The church also demanded that “every official responsible for what happened, regardless of his position, be held accountable, even his dismissal,” calling on the Minister of Justice to “take the necessary disciplinary measures against anyone found responsible for a deliberate act of abuse,” and the Public Prosecutor to “refer Judge Fadi Akiki to the judicial inspection and remove him.” ».
According to the account provided by the church, the General Security agents, by a decision of Akiki, intercepted the bishop “as he is coming from his diocese in the Holy Land, and held him for more than twelve hours, without any regard for his spiritual position, and interrogated him without justification in a security center, and confiscated him from him.” His Lebanese passport, phone, papers, medical and financial aid that he carried to the needy and sick in Lebanon of all sects, and Lebanese and Palestinian benefactors.
While the church stressed that it “is not in a position to justify what the bishop has done, but rather confirms the rightness of what he is doing and supports him in his pastoral mission,” she said that “it did not think that it could reach a time in the Republic of Greater Lebanon in which a bishop is exposed without A right face and contrary to the principles and customs and without any consideration of his person, position, role and mission, and without returning to his supreme ecclesiastical authority,” adding: “What the bishop was exposed to brought us back to the times of occupation and rulers in previous centuries (…) Those who inspired from the depths of their positions to attack They planned, ordered and carried out their condemned act.”
Archbishop Al-Hajj was absent from a session before Akiki today to question him about the transfer of funds from the occupied territories to Lebanon.
Al-Akhbar had learned that Al-Hajj’s arrest came on the background of his “possession of a large sum of money estimated at 460,000 dollars, in addition to 4,000 euros and a quantity of medicines.” According to a security source, a list of donors’ names was found in his possession, according to him. After checking, it turned out that it included the names of a large number of “Lahad agents” who fled to the occupied territories, who sent the sums to their families in Lebanon.