Lebanon detains ex-Palestinian envoy at Beirut airport on corruption charges
Former Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour, looks on during his visit to the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared near the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Friday, March 25, 2016. Credit: AP/Hussein Malla
BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities detained the former Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon on corruption charges shortly after he arrived in the country, officials said Wednesday.
The officials said Ashraf Dabbour was arrested upon arrival at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport late Tuesday. The two judicial and two security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas relieved Dabbour of his post as Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon last year after the Palestinian Authority accused him of corruption.
The Lebanese officials said authorities detained Dabbour in Beirut based on a Red Notice issued by Interpol late last year.
Dabbour was reportedly involved in selling property in Lebanon that was owned by the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was based in the country until Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
The officials said Dabbour was being questioned by a judge at the prosecutor’s office in Beirut.
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