I was greatly distressed by what I read in the papers. The great lawyer Maitre Muhamad Mugraby, who has given himself to the cause of integrity and particularly the integrity of the judiciary, has been charged by the public prosecutor without the due authority of the Council of the Bar as required by Lebanese law, and that the prosecution is moving to have him arrested, also without such authority.
I know personally that Maitre Muhamad Mugraby worships the integrity of the judiciary and the judges. To allege that the law permits his prosecution for libel as a witnessed crime is very serious indeed. There is no such crime at all and the allegation made is an affront to human rights.
The repeated statements of the president of the republic calling for the rise of a state under the rule of law prohibit such indulgences.
I hope and pray that the abuse of law is not to facilitate the designs that serve the interests of the authorities.
(Source: Lebanese papers, May 3, 2000)