Australian Woman on Trial for 'Adultery' in Tripoli, Barred from Leaving Lebanon
An Australian woman of Lebanese origin was barred from leaving Lebanon after her ex-husband's family filed a complaint against her claiming she has been visiting her “boyfriend” in the northern city of Tripoli since arriving in the country on June 20.
Mahassen Issa, 29 and mother of two minors, was supposed to return to Australia last week. But right before her departure, she was contacted by Lebanese authorities informing her that she has been charged with adultery, British newspaper The Guardian reported.
“My passport has been alerted to all the authorities and I'm not allowed to exit the country. I will be facing the charges tomorrow at court,” Issa's brother Ahmed quoted his sister as saying in an interview with News Corp Australia.
Issa is now standing trial in Tripoli along with her “boyfriend,” and she could face up to six months in prison if convicted.
She said she had been separated from her husband when she traveled to Tripoli last month to spend time with her boyfriend, noted Sky News.
Sydney-born Issa explained that the divorce took place in September 2013. However, her husband claims they were still together until April 2014. The Sydney Morning Herald said divorce proceedings have not been initiated.
"I need the Australian government to help me, because there is no one else that can help me at this point,” she said according to Sky News.
“The thought of not seeing my children ... and my whole family disowning me, it's a bit too much,” she said, breaking down in a video streamed on News Corp Australia websites.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson confirmed to Fairfax Media it was providing assistance to an Australian woman in Beirut, without providing any additional details.
“She deserves what she gets. She has wronged the system,” Issa's brother, Ahmed, told Australia's Macquarie Radio, explaining that “under Islamic law, a woman must be separated or divorced for at least 12 months before marrying again.”
“We tried our very best to control the situation as much as we can,” Ahmed said, adding that his sister “did not follow the instruction or the family's advice.”
Mahassen's 33-year-old brother also claimed that “his sister has married her boyfriend since arriving in Lebanon.”
Mahassen's family has disowned her, she told News Corp.
“I’m in a huge panic and I have no one to turn to. My family has disowned me. We have been receiving threats, my partner has received threats," she said.
“She's not part of our family, full stop," Mahassen's mother confirmed to Network Ten on Thursday.
“We have disowned her,” she stressed.
Issa's two children, six and nine, live with their father in western Sydney, according to the SMH.
Minerva Nassereddine, a lecturer at the Australian National University's Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, told Fairfax Media it was likely Issa was a Lebanese citizen for standing trial over adultery, believing also that the accused woman “is probably being charged by an Islamic court.”
"Her citizenship will play a role in how the local authorities and courts treat her,” Nassereddine pointed out.
S.D.B.
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Source: Naharnet
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