BEIRUT: He may have fallen from grace internationally as one of the auto industry’s most powerful leaders, but Carlos Ghosn can count on continued support in at least one corner of the globe.
Lebanon has long held hopes that Ghosn, whose grandparents were Lebanese and who holds extensive development projects in the country, would play a bigger role in politics one day, or help rescue its increasingly sluggish economy.
But Ghosn, ex-chairman of Nissan Motor Co., was detained last month on allegations of underreporting his income, and on Friday, a Japanese court approved extending his detention for 10 more days.
Now, politicians across the board are mobilizing in his defense, with some suggesting his detention may be part of a political or business-motivated conspiracy, and the government even considering extraditing him from Tokyo to face trial here.
“To Carlos Ghosn in his predicament I say, a Lebanese phoenix will not be scorched by the Japanese sun,” Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said at a security conference in Beirut this week.
Lebanon, a tiny country of 4.5 million, takes excessive pride in its huge emigrant community and successful businessmen and celebrities of Lebanese heritage. They include Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim, Columbian singer Shakira, Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek, Lebanese-British barrister Amal Clooney and fashion designers Elie Saab and Reem Accra.
The Lebanese took special pride in the auto industry icon, who holds a Lebanese passport, speaks fluent Arabic and visits regularly, including a last visit right before he was detained in Tokyo. Born in Brazil, where his Lebanese grandfather had sought his fortune, Ghosn grew up in Beirut, where he spent part of his childhood at a Jesuit school.
As he began his ascent in the auto industry, first with Renault and then by bringing Nissan in Tokyo back from the brink of bankruptcy, Ghosn kept in touch with old friends. He married twice, first to a Lebanese woman who resides in Beirut and again in 2016 to Carole Nahas, also of Lebanese heritage.
As a Maronite Christian, Ghosn’s name occasionally popped up as a possible candidate for the presidency, but he repeatedly dismissed suggestions he would run for office, saying he is not a politician. The post of president is reserved for a Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian-based system of government.
Although the extent of his businesses in Lebanon is not known exactly, Ghosn has spoken in interviews about various real estate projects in the country and sits on the board of several universities, hospitals and charities. In 2012, he became a partner in the Lebanese winery IXSIR, and is a board member of family-owned Saradar Bank.
In 2017, the government honored him with a special postage stamp — a show of respect to a man considered a model of Lebanese entrepreneurial spirit.
So when news broke on Nov. 19 that Ghosn, 64, had been detained on allegations he underreported millions of dollars in income, and that Nissan is accusing him of using company money for personal gain, people in Lebanon were stunned — and many were unconvinced.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil promptly issued a statement saying Lebanon would stand by Ghosn, adding he had asked the Lebanese ambassador to Tokyo to look out for “the model of Lebanese success abroad.” The ambassador has since reportedly met three times with Ghosn — who is being held in a small cell in the Japanese capital — providing him with a mattress and food in the form of salmon, according to one report on a local TV channel.
Ghosn’s dramatic downfall has sparked various conspiracy theories, with some claiming that his arrest was a U.S. ploy to punish him for resisting sanctions on Iran and others speculating it was an internal coup engineered by Nissan executives.
Melhem Riachi, the information minister, urged officials to intervene with the government of Japan, tweeting: “An investigation is extremely important. Something stinks.”
Allegations against Ghosn reported in the Japanese media, but unconfirmed, suggest he spent Nissan funds on fancy homes in Paris, Beirut, Rio de Janeiro and Amsterdam, and on family vacations and other personal expenses. Ghosn has denied the allegations against him, saying he had no intention of underreporting his income, the reports say.
Ghosn’s three-story property in one of Beirut’s most prized real estate districts stands out for its pink walls and blue shuttered windows. The traditional old Lebanese house was acquired and renovated in 2014, according to neighbors who said they occasionally saw him visiting.
“He is a successful businessman with a good reputation ... he is not someone you would expect to be a cheat,” said Rouba Rabah, who owns an art gallery opposite Ghosn’s property.
Another neighbor who declined to give his name said he was stunned by the news like every other Lebanese would be, recalling how he would see Ghosn personally overseeing the renovation work four years ago.
Lebanese businessmen, many of them personal friends of Ghosn, have rallied around him, even after he was stripped of his title as chairman at Nissan and at Japanese partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
A group of Lebanese lawyers is now considering forming a team for his defense, and Justice Minister Salim Jreissati told Lebanon’s daily An-Nahar that the government is considering asking Japan to extradite Ghosn to face trial on Lebanese soil.
Lawyer Amal Haddad told The Associated Press that she and the current head of the Lebanese Lawyers’ Syndicate, Andree Chidiac, were considering the options. “That’s all I can say until we are formally assigned the case,” Haddad said.
In Ghosn’s downfall, many here see a lost opportunity. The country’s economy is struggling, with experts warning it is dangerously close to collapse after decades of mismanagement, corruption and nepotism.
Cabinet Minister Mouin Merhebi said that Ghosn’s arrest is regrettable.
“He is an important personality, an economic personality we had hoped would one day play a role in Lebanese political life, a role to salvage Lebanon,” he told the AP.
Dramatic downfall of Carlos Ghosn reverberates in Lebanon
Dramatic downfall of Carlos Ghosn reverberates in Lebanon
- Lebanon has long held hopes that Ghosn would play a bigger role in politics one day, or help rescue its increasingly sluggish economy
- The country’s economy is struggling, with experts warning it is dangerously close to collapse after decades of mismanagement, corruption and nepotism
Strikes target Yemen’s Hodeidah, Houthi affiliated TV says, blaming Israel, US
Palestinians struggling to survive as Israel plans for Gaza's ‘conquest’
- For many of the Gaza Strip's residents, the most immediate threat to their lives remains the spectre of famine amid a months-long Israeli blockade
- Israel’s new military roadmap changes little as it already controls most of Gaza, a resident says
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israel’s plan for the “conquest” of Gaza has sparked renewed fears, but for many of the Palestinian territory’s residents, the most immediate threat to their lives remains the spectre of famine amid a months-long Israeli blockade.
The plan to expand military operations, approved by Israel’s security cabinet overnight, includes holding territories in the besieged Gaza Strip and moving the population south “for their protection,” an Israeli official said.
But Gaza residents told AFP that they did not expect the new offensive would make any significant changes to the already dire humanitarian situation in the small coastal territory.
“Israel has not stopped the war, the killing, the bombing, the destruction, the siege, and the starvation — every day — so how can they talk about expanding military operations?” Awni Awad, 39, told AFP.
Awad, who lives in a tent in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis after being displaced by Israeli evacuation orders, said that his situation was already “catastrophic and tragic.”
“I call on the world to witness the famine that grows and spreads every day,” he said.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in late April said it had depleted all its foods stocks in Gaza due to Israel’s blockade on all supplies since March 2.
There is no food, no medicine, and no nutritional supplements. The markets are empty of food, and the government clinics and pharmacies have nothing
Umm Hashem Al-Saqqa, Gaza City resident
Aya Al-Skafy, a resident of Gaza City, told AFP her baby died because of malnutrition and medicine shortages last week.
“She was four months old and weighed 2.8 kilograms (6.2 pounds), which is very little. Medicine was not available,” she said.
“Due to severe malnutrition, she suffered from blood acidity, liver and kidney failure, and many other complications. Her hair and nails also fell out due to malnutrition.”
Umm Hashem Al-Saqqa, another Gaza City resident, fears her five-year-old son might face a similar fate, but is powerless to do anything about it.
“Hashem suffers from iron deficiency anaemia. He is constantly pale and lacks balance, and is unable to walk due to malnutrition,” she told AFP.
“There is no food, no medicine, and no nutritional supplements. The markets are empty of food, and the government clinics and pharmacies have nothing.”
New military roadmap
Gaza City resident Mohammed Al-Shawa, 65, said that Israel’s new military roadmap changes little as it already controls most of Gaza.
“The Israeli announcement about expanding military operations in Gaza is just talk for the media, because the entire Gaza Strip is occupied, and there is no safe area in Gaza,” he said.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 69 percent of Gaza has now been either incorporated into one of Israel’s buffer zones, or is subject to evacuation orders.
The reality is that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza by bombing, shooting, or through starvation and denial of medical treatment
Mohammed Al-Shawa, Gaza City resident
That number rises to 100 percent in the southern governorate of Rafah, where over 230,000 people lived before the war but which has now been entirely declared a no-go zone.
“There is no food, no medicine, and the announcement of an aid distribution plan is just to distract the world and mislead global public opinion,” Shawa said, referring to reports of a new Israeli plan for humanitarian aid delivery that has yet to be implemented.
“The reality is that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza by bombing, shooting, or through starvation and denial of medical treatment,” he said.
Israel says that its renewed bombardments and the blockade of Gaza are aimed at forcing Hamas to release hostages held in the territory.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the new plan for Gaza on Monday and evoked a proposal previously floated by US President Donald Trump to displace the territory’s residents elsewhere.
The far-right firebrand said he would push for the plan’s completion, until “Hamas is defeated, Gaza is fully occupied, and Trump’s historical plan is implemented, with Gaza refugees resettled in other countries.”
Norwegian NGO decries Israel plan to take over Gaza aid
- Egeland said the Israeli government wanted to “militarise, manipulate, politicize the aid by allowing only aid to a few concentration hubs in the south”
OSLO: An Israeli plan to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza at hubs controlled by the military is “fundamentally against humanitarian principles,” the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) told AFP on Monday.
Israel’s security cabinet said there was “currently enough food” in the territory which has been under full Israeli blockade since March 2, and approved overnight the “possibility of humanitarian distribution” in Gaza.
“We cannot and will not do something which is fundamentally against humanitarian principles,” Jan Egeland told AFP.
He said “the United Nations agencies, all other international humanitarian groups and NGOs have said no to be part of this idea coming from the Israeli cabinet and from the Israeli military.”
Israel has accused Hamas of diverting humanitarian aid — which Hamas denies — and said its blockade was necessary to pressure the militant group to release Israeli hostages.
Egeland said the Israeli government wanted to “militarise, manipulate, politicize the aid by allowing only aid to a few concentration hubs in the south, a scheme where people will be screened, where it’s a completely inoperable system.”
“That would force people to move to get aid, and it would continue the starvation of the civilian population,” he said, adding: “We will have no part in that.”
“If one side in a bitter armed conflict tries to control, manipulate, ration aid among the civilians on the other side, it is against everything we stand for,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the Israeli scheme “will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies.”
International aid organizations as well as Palestinians in Gaza have for weeks warned of a dire humanitarian situation on the ground.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has said it has depleted its food stocks and that the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel.
Iraq’s justice minister says prisons are at double capacity as amnesty law takes effect
- Justice Minister Khaled Shwani acknowledged the overcrowding has put a severe strain on prison health care and human rights standards
BAGHDAD: As a general amnesty law takes effect in Iraq, the country’s prisons are facing a crisis of overcrowding, housing more than double their intended capacity, the country’s justice minister said in an interview.
Justice Minister Khaled Shwani told The Associated Press on Saturday that Iraq’s 31 prisons currently hold approximately 65,000 inmates, despite the system being built to accommodate only half that number.
He acknowledged that the overcrowding has put a severe strain on prison health care and human rights standards.
“When we took office, overcrowding stood at 300 percent,” he said. “After two years of reform, we’ve reduced it to 200 percent. Our goal is to bring that down to 100 percent by next year in line with international standards.”
Thousands more detainees remain in the custody of security agencies but have not yet been transferred to the Ministry of Justice due to lack of prison capacity. Four new prisons are under construction, Shwani said, while three have been closed in recent years. Two others have been opened and six existing prisons expanded.
The general amnesty law passed in January had strong support from Sunni lawmakers who argue that their community has been disproportionately targeted by terrorism charges, with confessions sometimes extracted under torture.
But opponents say the law would allow the release of people involved in public corruption and embezzlement as well as militants who committed war crimes.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, a watchdog group, said in a statement that “the current version of the general amnesty law raises deep concerns over its potential legal and security consequences.”’
Shwani said 2,118 prisoners have been released from the justice ministry’s prisons since the amnesty law took effect, while others had been released from the custody of security agencies before being transferred to the Ministry of Justice.
“We have a committee studying the status of inmates and identifying those who may qualify for release, but the vision is not yet final,” he said. The minister said he expects a “good number” to be released but “cannot specify an exact percentage until we receive clarity from the judiciary on who qualifies for the amnesty.”
Iraq’s prisons house hundreds of foreign nationals, most of them convicted of terrorism-related charges or affiliation with the Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
The inmates hail from countries including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Egypt, North African nations, and several European states, as well as a handful of US citizens. Shwani said discussions are underway with several governments to repatriate their citizens, excluding those sentenced to death.
He said inmates have been repatriated under existing agreements with Iran, Turkiye, and the United Kingdom, including 127 Iranian inmates who were recently transferred back to Tehran.
An Iranian who was convicted in the 2022 killing of a US citizen in Baghdad remains in custody, however, Shwani said.
Stephen Edward Troell, 45, a native of Tennessee, was fatally shot in his car in November by assailants as he pulled up to the street where he lived in Baghdad’s central Karrada district with his family. Iranian citizen Mohammed Ali Ridha was convicted in the killing, along with four Iraqis, in what was described as a kidnapping gone wrong.
All executions have been halted following the issuance of the general amnesty law, Shwani said.
Iraq has faced criticism from human rights groups over its application of the death penalty and particularly over mass executions carried out without prior notice to lawyers or family members of the prisoners.
Shwani pushed back against the criticisms of prison conditions and of the executions.
“There are strict measures in place for any violations committed against inmates,” he said. “Many employees have been referred for investigation, dismissed, and prosecuted.”
He insisted that the “number of executions carried out is limited — not as high as reported in the media” and said the death penalty is only applied in “crimes that severely threaten national security and public safety,” including inmates convicted in a 2016 bombing attack in Baghdad’s Karrada district that killed hundreds of people, as well as cases of child rape and high-ranking Daesh leaders.
Executions have been paused to reassess cases under the new amnesty law, he said.
Israeli authorities destroy Palestinian homes in West Bank cities
- Israeli authorities demolish 25 structures that belonged to the Dababseh family in Khallet Al-Dabaa village
- In Ramallah, forces raze a 150 sq. meter home that housed five people
LONDON: Israeli authorities demolished several Palestinian structures, including homes, in occupied West Bank cities on Monday.
Israeli forces demolished two homes in Al-Mughayyir village, north of Ramallah. They also destroyed a 200 sq. meter home in Al-Funduq, east of Qalqilya, for building without a permit. Additionally, several structures were demolished in the Jordan Valley.
Wafa reported that Israeli authorities demolished 25 structures that belonged to the Dababseh family in Khallet Al-Dabaa village, including homes, water wells, naturally formed caves, agricultural rooms, barns, and solar panels, after forcibly evicting residents.
In Ramallah, forces demolished a 150 sq. meter home that housed five people, while a demolition notice was issued for another house.
In the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli forces destroyed homes and livestock pens belonging to residents in Khirbet Al-Deir, while in Nabi Elias village, it raided several vehicle repair garages, the Wafa news agency reported.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, associated with the Palestinian Authority, reported that Israeli forces or settlers carried out 1,693 attacks on Palestinian towns, their properties, and lands in April.
