78-Year-Old, Cancer-Stricken Woman Freed from Jail after Uproar
A 78-year-old, leukemia-stricken woman was released from jail Friday after five days of detention over a construction violation committed by her daughter.
The imprisonment of the elderly and ill woman, Khadija Asaad, had created an uproar on social networking websites and a number of women in her hometown, the southern town of Doueir, staged a demo demanding her release.
The uproar eventually prompted some politicians to express condemnation and follow up on the case.
In an interview with al-Jadeed television, one of the woman's daughters, Mariam, said her sister had constructed a tent on a building's rooftop in order to move her parents from a lower floor whose humidity and water leaking were aggravating their already poor health situations.
Mariam said the violation dates back to two years ago and that it returned to the spotlight after they installed some windows.
“We are ready to bear the full responsibility for the violation, but our mother has nothing to do with the issue and nothing is registered under her name,” Mariam added.
Nabatiyeh judge Mohammed Abdo had ordered the immediate release of the woman but Nabatiyeh prosecutor Ghada Bou Karroum revoked Abdo's ruling and referred the file to Judge Maha Fayyad who ordered her re-arrest.
Justice Minister Salim Jreissati held a phone conversation with Bou Karroum on Friday, the National News Agency said.
Both Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and Arab Tawhid Party chief Wiam Wahhab had condemned the woman's arrest.
Speaking outside the Baabda prison after the woman's release, MP Hassan Fadlallah said she “was taken as a hostage from her home,” seeing as she was not behind the violation.
“We call on all the relevant officials to launch an urgent probe into the detention of Mrs. Khadija, which is a mark of shame on the forehead of the Lebanese judiciary,” Fadlallah urged.
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