I was astonished by the action of the public prosecutor in prosecuting Maitre Muhamad Mugraby on account of a lecture he gave in which he discussed some of the conditions of the Lebanese judiciary. We could have better understood the move by the public prosecutor and the position of the Higher Judicial Council had the responsible judicial authorities opened an investigation into the facts disclosed by Maitre Mugraby in his lecture...
The respect for justice cannot be infringed upon by one lecture or by a lecturer, but rather by the conduct of some of the members of the judicial body. It is also infringed upon by the cover up on such persons. I take this opportunity to ask what happened to the promise to introduce judicial reform? This was one of the main clauses of the swear-in speech (of President Lahoud) which was confirmed by the policy statement of the new government. Would any one have mentioned the reform of the judiciary had the judiciary been in its finest condition? So what is strange in the statements of Maitre Mugraby?
(Source: Lebanese papers, May 5, 2000)