Kinda El-Khatib
Kinda El-Khatib (Arabic: كندة الخطيب; born c.1997) is a Lebanese activist known as a critic of Michel Aoun, the political class of Lebanon, and Hezbollah. In December 2020 she was convicted of collaboration with Israel.[1] She was released on appeal in March 2021.[2]
Life[edit]
El-Khatib is a Sunni Muslim from Akkar District, and took part in demonstrations in 2019 and 2020.[3] At the time of her arrest, according to her sister Yasmine, El-Khatib was 23 years old, and was a Masters student in English Literature at the Lebanese University. She had worked for a time in 2018 as a translator for the International Society for Parliamentary Elections.[4]
With her brother Bandar, El-Khatib was arrested by the General Directorate of General Security on 17 June 2020. Bandar was released the following day, but Kinda was detained for six months, before being brought before a military tribunal.[5]
El-Khatib is known as a social media commentator. Her arrest was attributed at the time to a retweet of a posting by Avichay Adraee.[6] She had been particularly active on Twitter since the 17 October Revolution protests of 2019.[7]
There were reports in Al Akhbar in September that El-Khatib was accused of facilitating an interview that Charbel Al-Hajj, who is Lebanese, had given on Israeli television.[8] Brought to trial in a military tribunal in December 2020, in her defence El-Khatib testified on a contact made via Twitter, from a Kan 11 Israeli journalist named Roy Kays (also Roy Case, Roi Kais, he:רועי קייס), whom she did not know. She denied completely charges of entering Israel, and meeting Israelis whom she gave security information. After her conviction, and sentence of three years in prison with hard labour, her lawyer Jocelyne Rahi announced they would appeal.[1][7] The court also handed down a sentence of ten years to Charbel Al-Hajj (known as Charbel Hage), a Lebanese citizen in the United States, tried in absentia.[9]
Kinda El-Khatib was freed on 16 March 2021, under caution, after a successful appeal to the Court of Cassation. It was announced that there would be a second trial, with no date set.[2] A review of the position of her case in August 2021, on the website of The National, reported that in April of that year the military tribunal indictment was read to journalists at the Military Cassation Court. The second trial, set for 8 April, was postponed to December. Support for El-Khatib as a critical voice was expressed by Nizar Zakka and David Schenker.[5]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Alameddine, Lyana (16 December 2020). "L'activiste Kinda el-Khatib condamnée pour « collaboration avec Israël »". L'Orient-Le Jour.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Libération sous caution de la militante Kinda el-Khatib". L'Orient-Le Jour. 16 March 2021.
- ↑ Barochez, Luc de (31 March 2021). "Kinda El-Khatib, résistante anti-Hezbollah". Le Point (in français).
- ↑ The New Arab Staff (20 June 2020). "Lebanese activist Kinda el-Khatib arrested and accused of 'spying for Israel' amid crackdown on speech". english.alaraby.co.uk.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Rose, Sunniva (20 August 2021). "Kinda Al Khatib: The 'spy' and Hezbollah critic Lebanon would rather forget". The National.
- ↑ "اعتقال ناشطة لبنانية "بتهمة التخابر مع إسرائيل" يثير جدلا واسعا". BBC News عربي (in العربية). 20 June 2020.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "لبنان: الحكم على ناشطة بالسجن 3 سنوات بتهمة "التواصل" مع إسرائيل". mubasher.aljazeera.net (in العربية). 14 December 2020.
- ↑ The New Arab Staff (3 September 2020). "Female activist Kinda Khatib indicted by military court in Lebanon for 'spying for Israel'". english.alaraby.co.uk.
- ↑ "The tribunal also handed down an in absentia sentence of 10 years in prison with hard labor to Charbel Hage, who is based in the US, on charges of collaborating with Israel. The court also stripped him of his civil rights and issued a warrant for his arrest". L'Orient Today. 14 December 2020.
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