A Message from Prison

(Translated from the original Arabic)
August 10, 2003

Those who know me realize that for me, being a lawyer is a mission as much as it is an honorable profession. They also know that my forefront and objective as a lawyer is the defense of inherent human dignity, and of civil and constitutional rights; universal human rights the most important of which is Freedom. My only tool in performing my duties is the law, because the rule of law is the basis of social, political, and economic structure.

And now after my Friday, August 8, 2003 detention in the prison of the Palace of Justice in Beirut, I realize more than ever that what I did and what I continue to do in practicing my profession as a lawyer, and in upholding the lawyer's mission is in the eyes of some not viewed as natural and normal, but constitutes an unacceptable state of denial which requires punishment.

And it seems that from that perspective I have dared a lot during the past ten years, either by defending dozens of those pursued for political crimes by military courts, or hundreds of employees, workers, and farmers that are suffering from autocracy and the abuse of power. I must have dared more when I opposed the expropriation of the whole entire old city of Beirut for the benefit of Solideire, which belongs to whomever it belongs to, in violation of the constitution and of the civil and human rights of the inhabitants of Beirut, and preventing them from using the right of return, which was given to all the other displaced Lebanese from all regions.

I must have dared in a totally unacceptable manner recently when a number of my colleagues nominated me for the presidency of the Beirut Bar Association for the coming term (November 2003) and when I visited the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nassrallah Sfeir who declared that confessional barriers are unacceptable and that what we should look for in individuals assuming public office is competence and the service of our home land. At the same time I dared to defend a Lebanese lawyer from a prominent Lebanese family against three Saudi princes, just like I dared two years ago to defend a Lebanese lawyer in Saida against three Lebanese judges and before that I dared to release a lawyer and ex-parliament member who had been arbitrarily detained.

I must have dared too much when I participated in the creation and launching of the Campaign for Integrity in the Judiciary and before that the Campaign for the Return to the Center of Beirut.

The holders of that perspective never forget that I dared when I defended those who were detained for trying to demonstrate in front of MTV and that I published legal opinions contradicting the closure of this television station in the manner that it was handled which was in violation of laws and principles. They also will not forget that I dared when I accepted to defend farmers in Nabatiyeh whose rights have been violated and whose lands have been robbed with the help of associates of the regime.

With regards to the Beirut Bar Association, which is not the association for Beirut but for all of Lebanon except the North, I must have dared a lot:

I dared because I refused to accept the fifty thousand Lebanese Pounds advance around 1980 (a sum roughly equal to fifty thousand dollars today) that the state gave to lawyers and never got back.

I dared when I filed a claim with the financial public prosecution against the bar association for contracting with Medgulf (half owned by the Prime Minister) at a price that highly exceeds the competitive prices available on the market using public funds resulting from a 0.1% tax earmarked for lawyers under a special law. The bar collected this tax directly and illegally from the notary publics instead of resorting to the Ministry of Finance according to the law and give discounts that exceeded 10%.

I dared to sue the bar for forcing the lawyers to finance the building of a clubhouse converted into "la maison d'avocat" by threatening them with not accepting their dues and depriving them from their right to health insurance.

I dared along with some colleagues to sue the bar for correcting or nullifying the minutes of some general assemblies, which violated legal procedures.

I dared to use the right to legal defense when the former president of the Bar Association filed a claim against me before the public prosecution in Beirut on November 2001 (the date of registration in the claims file shows that the claim was filed on the day following the termination of the president's term of office) supported by a decision from the bar association council, which considered the criticisms made by the Committee for Integrity of the Judiciary for his hastiness in giving permission for the prosecution of a lawyer in Saida as a form of slander. The council, in that same decision, pre-approved my prosecution as I found out later. When the bar abstained from informing me about the mentioned decision to keep me from using my legal right to appeal before the accusative decision was rendered by the investigation magistrate, I dared to file a claim against the bar and the former and acting presidents.

I dared not to appear when the president of the bar association summoned me to his presence without mentioning a reason.

I dared when I objected to the bar council's playing a political role subject to confessional and partisan influences, which led some unionists known for their fanaticism to accuse me of generating confessional feuds.

And Now

I realize that I am supposed to pay a price because I have acted out of full conviction and solid faith that might can only be derived out of right and that no right can be derived out of might, and my belief that laws, when misused and misinterpreted, lose their legitimacy and cease to be laws.

Therefore, I see myself proudly upholding all that I have done especially since the suspension of my freedom proves to me more than ever that I have been, I am, and I shall always continue to do the right thing.