Disclaimer: This article contains written text and video testimony covering the topics of sexual abuse that could be triggering to some readers.
Rami Adwan, the Lebanese Ambassador to France, stands accused of rape and intentional harm, according to charges brought forth by two previous embassy workers.
Adwan’s role gives him diplomatic immunity from prosecution. Yet, the French administration urges Lebanese authorities to revoke this, to clear the path for a trial.
The French Foreign Ministry told AFP, “Given the gravity of the charges, we deem it necessary for Lebanese authorities to revoke the immunity of their Parisian Ambassador. This move will ease the process for French judicial bodies.”
In June 2022, the initial complaint, filed by a 31-year-old woman, accuses Adwan of a rape that allegedly took place in his private apartment in May 2020. The testimony aligns with a report by Mediapart.
In her statement, she made her lack of consent clear, responding to the assault with screams and tears.
In 2020, the woman, who served as an editor, had already reported to the police that Adwan, in office since 2017, had physically attacked her during an office dispute.
She held back from filing an official complaint as she did not want to “break the life” of the ambassador. However, her filed complaint tells of an abusive relationship with Adwan, marked by “psychological and physical violence accompanied by daily humiliation.”
The second complaint, filed in February last year by a 28-year-old woman, cites a series of physical assaults following her rejection of Adwan’s sexual advances.
She alleges that Adwan attempted to hit her with his car after an argument during last year’s Normandy World Peace Forum.
Additionally, she accuses Adwan of trying to smother her by pressing her face into her bed at her home last December.
Karim Beylouni, Adwan’s attorney, told to AFP, “My client categorically denies all accusations of any form of aggression: verbal, moral, or sexual.”
According to Beylouni, Adwan maintained “romantic relationships with these two women between 2018 and 2022, punctuated by arguments and separations.”
According to a source to AFP, the Paris judicial police have since closed the case and Paris prosecutor’s office refrained from giving a comment.
