Bahij Abu Hamze Freed from Prison, Wahhab Hails Judiciary

Bahij Abu Hamze, a prominent Lebanese businessman, was freed from prison on Thursday after around three years in provisional detention.

Media reports said Abu Hamze arrived home in the afternoon after the Beirut court of appeals revoked a previous ruling by Beirut Examining Magistrate Farid Ajib and ordered Abu Hamze's release without any bail.

MP Walid Jumblat's press office meanwhile issued a statement stressing that Abu Hamze's release does not mean that he has been “acquitted,” noting that a one-year travel ban has been imposed on him and that investigations led by Judge Farid Ajib will continue in Jumblat's latest “fraudulent bankruptcy” lawsuit against Abu Hamze and in ten other lawsuits.

“The travel ban on Abu Hamze for the necessities of investigation prove that there is evidence against him and that the release is merely a measure that any court would take when the legal period of pre-trial detention ends. Nothing in it points to innocence and the travel ban against the defendant makes conviction more likely,” Jumblat's office added.

Arab Tawhid Party chief ex-minister Wiam Wahhab had earlier hailed the judiciary over the decision.

“The tyrants have fallen and the judiciary has triumphed,” Wahhab tweeted, saluting Justice Minister Salim Jreissati and the judges Tannous Meshleb, Fadi Oneissi and Suheil Abboud and noting that they have “restored hope in the judiciary.”