Mustaqbal, Ziad Itani React to Acquittal of al-Hajj

Al-Mustaqbal Movement on Thursday blasted the Military Court's acquittal of Internal Security Forces Lt. Col. Suzanne al-Hajj in the case of “fabricating a spying for Israel case for theater actor Ziad Itani.”

Mustaqbal secretary-general Ahmed Hariri slammed the ruling as “politicized, vengeful and spiteful.”

“A judge is settling personal scores at the expense of justice,” Hariri added in a tweet, apparently referring to State Commissioner to the Military Court Peter Germanos.

Mustaqbal's press office meanwhile issued a statement quoting sources close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri as saying that “it would have been better for the Military Court judges to maintain their strike instead of issuing this ruling.”

Itani himself stressed that he refuses to turn his cause into a “sectarian” one.

“I will not accept to turn a crime committed against me into a crime against the country,” Itani tweeted, stressing that he will press on with his lawsuit and that he will “expose the big heads.”

Earlier in the day, the Military Court acquitted al-Hajj and sentenced the hacker Elie Ghabash to a year in prison.

The court, however, sentenced Hajj to two months in jail -- which can be substituted by a LBP 200,000 fine -- on charges of "withholding information."

Itani was released in March 2018 after spending 109 days in detention.

He shot to prominence in recent years because of a series of comedy plays on Beirut, its customs and the transformations it has undergone in recent decades.

The works -- particularly "Beirut Tariq al-Jedideh", which refers to a majority-Sunni neighborhood of the city -- have been very well-received.

Before becoming an actor, Itani worked as a journalist with Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen television and with various regional newspapers.