Hariri blasts lawsuit against a Hezbollah critic as an “attack on the dignity of the Lebanese”

Former Lebanese PM Saad Hariri on Tuesday described the lawsuit filed against Shiite cleric Sayyed Ali al-Amin who is an outspoken critic of the Iranian backed Hezbollah militant group as “a blatant attack on the dignity of the Lebanese.”

“It represents a crime, a blatant attack on the dignity of the Lebanese and contempt for their intelligence and patriotism,” Hariri said in a tweet.

“Sayyed Ali al-Amin is one of the icons of national and Islamic unity and any attack against his dignity is an attack against us all, both Muslims and Christians,” Hariri added.

“Stop committing these heresies under the name of the judiciary and false reports,” Hariri went on to say.

The public prosecutor’s office in Mount Lebanon had earlier on Tuesday filed the lawsuit against al-Amin, accusing him of “meeting Israeli officials in Bahrain”, attacking the resistance and its martyrs on permanent basis, inciting strife between sects, sowing discord and sedition, and violating the Sharia laws of the Jaafari sect.”

Sayyed Ali Al-Amine attended a religious diversity dialogue conference in Bahrain in 2019 and got a lot of backlash from Hezbollah due to the fact that Jewish scholars from Israel also participated in it. 

“Hezbollah denounced the participation of Al-Amine in the forum, which the movement said was attended by “Zionist figures.” It also accused the cleric of “seeking to normalize ties with Israel,”  Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

Sayyed Ali El-Amine reportedly said that he didn’t even know the Jewish members were going to be attending the conference, which they did on the second day. 

About Sayyed Ali Al-Amine

Sayyed Ali Al-Amine is a Lebanese Muslim religious authority who studied under several Grand Ayatollahs in the city of Najaf, Iraq, where he reached the clerical rank of ‘Mujtahid’ – the senior level of clerical accomplishment. Afterwards, he taught senior clerical students, both in Islamic jurisprudence (al-fiqh) and the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (Uṣūl al-fiqh) in a number of seminaries in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria where many graduated under his supervision. He headed the ‘Islamic Law’ seminary in Beirut, and the al-Sadr seminary for Islamic Studies in Tyre, Lebanon, where he also held the position of Mufti of Tyre and Jabal Amel. He is a member of the Muslim-elders Council.

He calls for interfaith dialogue and emphasizes mutual coexistence between Christians and Muslims and advocates for Islamic solidarity and unity. Sayyed Al-Amine has given numerous lectures to disseminate religious consciousness and religious moderation and naturally rejects hate, intolerance, extremism and terrorism.

Sayyed Al-Amine is the author of several books including:  “Sunni and Shiite are one Nation” (al-Sunna wāl Shia ûmma wahída); “Between Cogitation and Blasphemy” (Zobdāt al-tafkír fí råfd al sāb wāl takfír), “

‘Wilayat al-Fakih’ and the Nation State”, “A Series of Lessons in the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence” and “Letter of Moderation in the Face of the culture of extremism and terrorism.”