On Wednesday, Court of Cassation’s Public Attorney Judge Ghassan Al-Khoury ordered the Information Division to arrest lawyer Rami Ollaik for criticizing State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat.
The following day, a video of Ollaik’s brutal arrest shocked the public. He was stopped in broad daylight in the middle of the street and pinned down to the ground to be handcuffed and taken away.
Ollaik is a fierce critic of what he deems “corrupt judiciary” in Lebanon. He has criticized Judge Oueidat, similar to Charbel Razzouk, a member of Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Youth who was arrested earlier this week.
Ollaik is also linked with an FPM-affiliated group called “United For Leb” which attacked MTV’s crew and cars during Judge Ghada Aoun‘s raid on the Mecattaf offices.
This is not the first time Lebanese authorities use brutal force to arrest a lawyer and certainly not unlike the scenes that play out for activists’ arrests.