BEIRUT: Lebanon’s judiciary approved the release on bail of former economy minister Amin Salam on Tuesday after six months of detention over corruption linked to contracts deemed suspicious, a judicial official said.
Salam, who served in the cabinet of former prime minister Najib Mikati from 2021 to 2025, is the only ex-minister to be arrested since the start of Lebanon’s economic crisis in 2019.
The official, who requested anonymity, told AFP Lebanon’s judiciary “agreed to release former economy minister Amin Salam on bail of nine billion Lebanese pounds, equivalent to $100,000” and a travel ban.
The official added that the bail was paid, with procedures ongoing to secure his release from prison.
In June, another judicial official said Salam had been arrested in connection with alleged “falsification, embezzlement and suspicious contracts.”
Salam’s adviser Fadi Tamim was sentenced in 2023 to one year in prison for blackmail and personal enrichment at the expense of insurance companies.
The former minister’s brother Karim Salam was also arrested earlier this year in a “case of illicit enrichment, forgery and extortion of insurance companies,” committed “under cover of the minister himself,” the official said in June.
Many in Lebanon attribute the economic crisis to mismanagement and corruption that has plagued state institutions for decades.
President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who both took office this year, have vowed to make the fight against endemic corruption a priority, as part of the reforms demanded by international donors.
Both have vowed to uphold the independence of the judiciary and prevent interference in its work, in a country plagued by official impunity.
In September, former central bank governor Riad Salameh, who faces numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion, was released after being detained for over a year by paying a record bail of more than $14 million.
Lebanon approves release of former minister accused of corruption
https://arab.news/vpqz4
Lebanon approves release of former minister accused of corruption
- Salam is the only ex-minister to be arrested since the start of Lebanon’s economic crisis in 2019
- The official added that the bail was paid, with procedures ongoing to secure his release from prison
Iran FM tells UN all military bases of ‘hostile forces’ legitimate targets
- UN chief condemns escalation, calls for immediate return to negotiating table
- Emergency session of Security Council set to convene on Saturday in New York
NEW YORK: Iran will use “all necessary defensive capabilities and means” to confront attacks by the US and Israel, and will treat “all bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile forces in the region” as legitimate military targets under its right to self-defense, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the president of the Security Council, Araghchi said US and Israeli airstrikes are “a clear violation” of the UN Charter and amount to “an open armed aggression” against Iran.
Tehran is exercising its “inherent and lawful right of self-defense” under the UN Charter, he added.
The letter, seen by Arab News, accused the US and Israel of launching coordinated, large-scale attacks on Iranian territory, targeting defensive facilities and civilian sites in several cities.
Araghchi said Iran will continue to act “decisively and without hesitation until the aggression ceases fully and unequivocally,” adding that the US and Israel “shall bear full and direct responsibility for all ensuing consequences, including any escalation arising from their unlawful actions.”
He called on the 15-member Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to address a “breach of peace which is a real and serious threat to international peace and security,” and urged UN member states to “unequivocally condemn this act of aggression.”
An emergency session of the council is set to convene in New York on Saturday, requested by France, Bahrain, Colombia, China and Russia.
The Russian mission at the UN said in a statement that during the meeting, Moscow will demand that the US and Israel “immediately cease their illegal and escalatory actions and embark on a path toward a political and diplomatic settlement.” It added that “Russia is willing to provide all necessary assistance in this process.”
Meanwhile, Guterres condemned the military escalation, saying “the use of force by the United States and Israel against Iran, and the subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, undermine international peace and security.”
The UN Charter clearly prohibits “the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations,” Guterres said in a statement.
He called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation, and an immediate return to the negotiating table, adding that “failing to do so risks a wider regional conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”
UN human rights chief Volker Turk also deplored the escalation and warned that civilians are the ones who end up paying “the ultimate price.”
He said: “Bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences but only result in death, destruction and human misery.”
Turk called for restraint and implored the parties “to see reason, to de-escalate, and (return) to the ‘negotiating table’ where they had been actively seeking a solution only hours earlier.”
