Sharika Wa Laken: We Refuse Intimidation and Will Defend Our Right to Report the Truth

The feminist platform Sharika Wa Laken has received a summons from the Cybercrime Bureau in Lebanon, issued by Beirut Public Prosecutor Judge Raja Hamoush, targeting our Editor-in-Chief Hayat Mirshad and journalist Joelle Abdel Aal, following a complaint by singer Fares Karam. The summons comes after we published an investigation into the exploitative sponsorship system, which included documented accusations against him of mistreating a domestic worker.

This is not the first attempt to intimidate us through arbitrary summonses designed to silence our voices and obstruct our journalistic work. Our legal representative, Mr. Farouk Al-Moghrabi, attended the Bureau on behalf of our colleagues. Yet, despite this, Judge Hamoush insisted on summoning journalist Joelle Abdel Aal in person, a move that only reinforces the ongoing, unjustified pressure against the press.

We at Sharika Wa Laken reaffirm: we will not be silenced, and we will not retreat from the truth. What we have published is not rumor or speculation; it is grounded in the documented testimony of Kenyan domestic worker Grace Wembar. We are prepared to pursue this case until the end.

We stress that our colleague Joelle Abdel Aal is under no obligation to comply with these arbitrary summonses, and we categorically refuse to delete or alter any of the material we have published. On the contrary, today we release a new recording from Grace Wembar herself, confirming once again that her wages remain unpaid. This directly contradicts the shifting claims of the recruitment office.

In fact, the office owner, Ilham Lteif, previously admitted to us in a documented communication that “the worker’s dues had not been paid, and that Fares Karam had the intention to pay”, as if a worker’s wages were a bargaining chip for punishment and blackmail.

It must also be noted that this same office faces far more serious charges of enslavement, which require serious, responsible, and urgent action from the authorities.

We stand firm where we have always stood: a voice for survivors, never an echo for those in power.