Khiam group calls for Mugraby's release

The Khiam Rehabilitation Center of the Victims of Torture on Monday called for the immediate release of lawyer Mohammed Moghrabi and for proper legal procedures to be followed in his detention and trial.

A statement said Moghrabi's detention was a violation of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The statement said it wondered why he was imprisoned at Bar Association election time.

The statement also said that "if Moghrabi was not properly qualified as a lawyer, why didn't the Bar Association file a claim against him before?"

Moghrabi has been held in detention since Aug. 8 for "impersonating a lawyer," and had put his name forward as a candidate for the post of chairman of the Beirut Bar Association.

He issued a number of statements criticizing the judiciary and the Bar Association, which accused him of issuing leaflets questioning the integrity and credibility of the judiciary and Beirut Bar Council.