BEIRUT: The wife of a former aide of MP Walid Jumblatt warned that authorities were trying to kill her husband by denying him adequate treatment, saying he was in critical condition and innocent of the charges against him.
“The family fears that Bahij Abu Hamzeh will be physically eliminated, as attempts to morally eliminate him have hit a dead end ... his health condition is critical,” TV personality Mona Abu Hamzeh said, speaking at a news conference at the Press Federation headquarters in Raouche. She maintained that there is no evidence against her husband, and that unsuccessful efforts to slander him have now escalated to an attempt on his life.
Her remarks came a day after the judiciary moved her husband from hospital to prison, following an assessment by doctors who said his condition was stable. Due to his poor health, Abu Hamzeh had been held in a hospital room under strict security for the majority of his sentence.
Once a close aide to Jumblatt, Abu Hamzeh managed the Druze leader’s real estate ventures and private property for more than two decades. After his arrest in December 2013, four lawsuits were filed against him by Jumblatt and a fifth by the Safa Football team, which he sponsored. Abu Hamzeh was accused of breach of trust, embezzling funds and money laundering.
Last November, Abu Hamzeh was sentenced to two years in jail and ordered to pay $3.45 million in the lawsuit filed by the Safa Football team. He had previously acted as head of the team’s Board of Trustees.
“Is it acceptable that we’re banned from making inquiries or asking [about the motivations behind the lawsuits] for even 33 seconds, when my husband worked day and night for 33 years [managing Jumblatt’s] property?” Mona Abu Hamzeh asked.
“Is it acceptable that my husband was detained for a year [before trial], following a systematic media campaign of slander, and [false] accusations of breach of trust and embezzlement?” She voiced her surprise that such accusations continued to be made, “without knowing why, where or how.”
“Is it acceptable that we always hear the same sentence, ‘let justice run its course,’ when all these accusations are fabricated?”
Her remarks referred to an incident last December, when Jumblatt refused to meet a delegation from Abu Hamzeh’s family outside his house, saying only: “Let justice run its course.”
She also urged Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, the Higher Judicial Council, senior judges, and civil society groups to “stand by the side of oppressed people such as Bahij Abu Hamzeh.”
In an indirect reference to Jumblatt, Abu Hamzeh said she was being asked to pay money in return for her husband’s release. “The authority which is supposed to protect us is telling us: ‘Let him pay money and get done with this issue.’”
Following the news conference, Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party dismissed Mona Abu Hamzeh’s allegations.A statement published on the website of its newspaper Al-Anbaa and attributed to an unnamed official detailed the charges against Abu Hamzeh, and stated that the claims made at the conference were without merit.
According to the statement, Abu Hamzeh was detained after a series of warrants were issued for his arrest. The charges stem from five lawsuits lodged against him. The first lawsuit was filed by Safa football team. Abu Hamzeh was sentenced to two years in prison for crimes related to the suit, the statement said. A second lawsuit was filed by Jumblatt for breach of trust and embezzlement; Abu Hamzeh has also been indicted for crimes based on this suit.
The statement added that a third lawsuit was filed by Jumblatt against Abu Hamzeh and businessman Hussein Bdeir for selling him a piece of land which did not exist. This lawsuit was dropped after Jumblatt was recompensed.
The fourth lawsuit was filed by Elwood Finance, a company owned by Jumblatt, charging Abu Hamzeh with embezzlement, fraud, breach of trust and money laundering. The statement said that the general prosecutor and investigative judge had issued corresponding arrest warrants against Abu Hamzeh in this case, as well as for crimes he committed while managing another of Jumblatt’s companies, detailed in a fifth lawsuit.
“What is strange in Bahij Abu Hamzeh’s case is that despite the accusations and arrest warrants issued against him by the judiciary, he was not held in prison, which is the normal place for detainees and convicts,” the statement read.
“Instead, as if by magic, he remained in hospital for a year and enjoyed its privileges and leisure. Does he have any political cover?”
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