Clarification and Press Release August 25, 2003

In our personal capacity as Dr. Muhamad Mugraby's wife and children, we are now issuing this clarification and press release. Until Dr. Muhamad can make his own rebuttal and defense to the claims made against him at Thursday's press conference by Mr. Raymond Chedid personally and in his capacity as President of the Beirut Bar Association, we are here today to exercise our own right of rebuttal in Dr. Muhamad's absence.

Now, and since his arbitrary arrest under the charges of "impersonating a lawyer" on Friday the 8th of August, 2003, Dr. Muhamad Mugraby has become the target of a character assassination and lynching by Mr. Raymond Chedid and the Council of the Beirut Bar Association the likes of which we have never seen before.

WHY IS DR. MUHAMAD MUGRABY IN JAIL?

Mr. Raymond Chedid referred to this case as "Non-Confessional and Non-Political". Muhamad has been under arrest for over two weeks because:

1. He dares to fight corruption and seek out what is right.
2. He continually defends human dignity.
3. He demands human rights and democracy.
4. He takes on the legal defense of the weak and helpless against autocracy and the abuse of power.
5. He upholds the rule of law.

Dr. Muhamad does not need our witness or the witness of anyone else. He is one of the most prominent lawyers in Lebanon and in the region. He is one of the foremost defenders of freedom, human rights, and democracy, and is widely recognized and respected as a lawyer in the legal profession worldwide. His thoughts and positions have always been public, written, and published.

His arrest is certainly political. The president of the Beirut Bar Association has clearly demonstrated a very strong will to terminate Muhamad's career as a lawyer and human rights defender. The Bar Association is trying hard to deprive him of his most basic civil and human rights, including the right to counsel and the presumption of innocence. Indirect threats have been made to his lawyers and any lawyer that comes to his defense, while his requests to see his doctor, whom he consults with regularly, have been flatly denied.

We, like thousands of others, would have anticipated that Mr. Chedid and the Beirut Bar Association, the same association that uses "Mother of Laws" as its honorable motto, be the leaders of Dr. Muhamad's defense. Instead, Mr. Chedid, on behalf of the Beirut Bar Association, belittled and insulted hundreds of persons participating in sit-ins around Lebanon, dozens of renowned human and civil rights organizations around the world, and foreign states that have come to the defense of the premeditated character assassination and lynching of Dr. Muhamad Mugraby.

MISREPRESENTATION OF FILES

In his press conference, Mr. Raymond Chedid misinformed his guests and consequently the public at large about the conflict between the Bar Association and Dr. Muhamad. He referred to stacks of files on his desk that purportedly detail the Bar's history of conflicts with Dr. Muhamad. He also remarked that Dr. Muhamad's career is abnormal because a 50-year-long career as a member of the Bar should produce a thin file at most. In truth, the stacks of files that Mr. Chedid referred to represent civil actions brought against the management of the Bar by Dr. Muhamad.

Some of the conflicts that led the Beirut Bar Association to take a position, one that is not recognized as lawful or valid by Dr. Muhamad Mugraby, include the following:

The Libya Solidarity Strike (1992)

The first documented conflict we were able to retrieve between Dr. Muhamad and the Bar dates back to 1992 when the Bar Association ordered a general strike in solidarity with Libya. At that time, attempts were being made to hold Libya accountable for two acts of terrorism that resulted in the 1988 Pan Am crash in Lockerbie, Scotland as well as the 1989 French UTA DC-10 Airliner crash in Niger, Africa. Publicly, Dr. Muhamad questioned the Bar's decision to strike because he felt that the solidarity was unusual and politically motivated. He considered it to be unusual because Libya had eliminated the legal profession in its entirety leaving no more lawyers in Libya to hold solidarity with. He also regarded the solidarity strike as unusual due to the country's record of human rights violations, and due to the disappearances of a number of Lebanese therein, among them Imam Moussa Sadr, who went missing in Libya late in the 1970s.

MEDGULF Bar Association contract and the 0.1% illegally collected taxes

Dr. Muhamad filed a complaint 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 proper legal procedure, and then offered discounts that exceeded 10%.

"Maison de l'Avocat" issue (2000)

Dr. Muhamad sued the Bar Association for forcing its members to finance the construction of a 'clubhouse' to be converted into the "Maison de l'Avocat". The Bar threatened to deprive the lawyers of their right to health insurance and also threatened to reject their dues if they did not agree to finance the construction of the clubhouse.

Correcting or Nullifying Minutes (2000)

Correcting or nullifying minutes is a violation of legal procedures. Dr. Muhamad, along with some colleagues, sued the Bar for correcting or nullifying the minutes of some general assemblies.

Forgery claim against Bar and its council members (2002)

Dr. Muhamad exercised his right to legal defense when the former president of the Bar Association filed a claim against him before the public prosecution in Beirut on November 2001, supported by a decision on the part of the Bar Association council based on their consideration that some criticisms, made by the Committee for Integrity of the Judiciary with regard to the hastiness in giving permission to prosecute a certain lawyer in Saida, were a form of slander. Furthermore, 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. He later learned that the council, in that same decision, had pre-approved his prosecution. When the Bar failed to inform him that a decision was mentioned in order to keep him from using his legal right to appeal before the investigative magistrate rendered the accusative decision, Dr. Muhamad Mugraby filed a claim against the bar and the former and acting presidents.

CLARIFICATION REGARDING MUGRABY'S BAR MEMBERSHIP DUES

Dr. Muhamad has been paying his annual dues in a regular and timely fashion, but the Beirut Bar Association had refused to accept the dues from him as a result of his objection to pay the unlawful dues related to the construction of the clubhouse mentioned earlier. Dr. Muhamad paid his dues at a Public Notary instead.

When asked about the payment of the Bar membership dues for 2003 by a member of the press, Mr. Chedid replied by stating that the payments Mugraby made were for outstanding balances for years in arrears. In fact, on the first of April 2003, Muhamad paid his dues with a check drawn from his account.

His check was endorsed by both Raymond Chedid and Mr. Antonio Al-Hachem, the treasurer of the Beirut Bar Association.

It is worth mentioning that the Bar Association also certifies all powers of attorney for its member lawyers. Dr. Mugraby has certified powers of attorney as recent as in the last couple of months.

Mr. Chedid was well aware that Dr. Muhamad Mugraby was continuing to practice law as an active member of the Beirut Bar Association, although in his press conference of August 21st, he referred to him as a 'former lawyer' with no standing in the Beirut Bar Association, and with no immunity.

Criticism & Challenges

Mr. Chedid said, "I will prosecute everyone that challenges the Bar; everyone that defames the Bar; because we are above everyone else." He continued to say, "The Bar Association gives lessons and does not take lessons."

Mr. Chedid implied that lawsuits brought against him and the Council of the Bar Association by Dr. Muhamad are acts of defamation. Mr. Chedid also regards as 'insult' any criticism of the activities engaged in by the Bar Association, and any call to reform therein.

Mr. Chedid referred to the reputable international organizations that came to the defense of Dr. Muhamad as ridiculous, and implied that Dr. Muhamad is paying them off with his own funds to speak out against this obvious act of injustice by the judiciary. Chedid also stated that he is not accountable to anyone but the Bar.

Dr. Muhamad submitted his opinions to the Bar based on the foundations of Lebanese Law, and through the due process of Law, as he has always done.

Please visit http://combar.info for more information and the latest developments.

Contact Dalal, Suha, or Ziad Mugraby for further information: +961.1.341060.