Prosecutor Clarifies Circumstances of Asala's Brief Detention

State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud stressed Tuesday that prominent Syrian singer Asala Nasri received the “same treatment” as any other person held on drug abuse charges, after she was briefly detained overnight Sunday at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.

Hammoud noted that he had recently instructed the prosecutors of the districts not to seek the detention of drug abusers but rather to “refer them to institutions that take charge of treating them while subjecting them to periodic tests to determine whether or not they had continued their addiction.”

“In line with this order, Asala underwent a drug abuse test at the airport and she will be periodically subjected to this test when she returns to Lebanon,” Hammoud added, noting that “investigations in this case are continuing confidentially.”

State-run National News Agency had reported that Internal Security Forces inspection officers found two grams of cocaine in a small plastic box that Asala was carrying.

After she “tested positive for drug abuse,” Judge Claude Karam decided to release her on the condition that she would undergo another drug test, LBCI television said.

In her preliminary hearing testimony, Asala had denied that the drugs belonged to her, claiming that she did not know who put them in her suitcase.

The diva was eventually allowed to leave Beirut for Cairo after she “signed a pledge obliging her to undergo a drug test every time she visits Lebanon.”

The Syrian diva, which is known for her anti-Assad stances, was in Lebanon for the annual iftar banquet organized by Eagle Films.