2023-08-29 22:48:25
A Lebanese comedian who was arrested on Tuesday for a joke he made five years ago was released, according to his lawyer, a few days after he was questioned about another comedy show he made.
A number of people gathered in front of the Palace of Justice in Beirut to protest his detention.
The crowd chanted “Freedom” for Hajjar.
Lawyer Diala Shehadeh said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that Nour Hajjar was placed “under arrest” in a detention center in Beirut before he was released in the evening, explaining that the Sunni Fatwa House had filed a complaint against him.
However, the lawyer stressed that the incident against which he was arrested “occurred five years ago, and therefore, according to Lebanese laws, the statute of limitations has expired.”
Clips circulated on social networks show the comedian making jokes about events that supposedly took place at a family funeral, and the audience can be heard laughing and applauding.
The lawyer stressed that the scenes were taken from a comedy show he presented, but it seems that they were taken out of context.
Hajjar was arrested despite his willingness to apologize to everyone who felt he had been abused, according to the lawyer, who indicated that the comedian had received death threats.
Shehadeh said Hajjar is currently facing two separate court cases, one of which is before the military court.
A group of international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, condemned Hajjar’s arrest and called for his immediate release.
In a statement on the “X” platform (formerly Twitter), the organizations urged “the judicial authorities to provide the greatest possible legal protection for comedy shows.”
Sahar Mandour, Lebanon researcher at Amnesty International, said Hajjar “exercised his right to freedom of expression.”
“Those who caused poverty, death and destruction should be in his place, while he and others who criticize the authorities should be free to do so, especially in times of crisis,” she added, in a statement to France Press.
Since late 2019, Lebanon has been witnessing an economic collapse that has plunged the majority of its people into poverty.
The World Bank considers that the economic crisis in Lebanon is one of the worst economic crises in the world in modern history, and the authority holds the authorities responsible for that by misusing the people’s deposits in the last three decades.
Hajjar’s arrest came after he was interrogated last week over a joke he made about soldiers working for a popular food delivery app.
The salaries of members of the Lebanese security forces, especially the army, have shrunk since the economic crisis began, and some of them are practicing additional jobs to meet living needs.
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