{"id":45634,"date":"2021-06-17T05:23:03","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T05:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=45634"},"modified":"2021-06-17T05:23:03","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T05:23:03","slug":"expelled-jordanian-mp-osama-al-ajarmeh-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=45634","title":{"rendered":"Expelled Jordanian MP Osama Al-Ajarmeh arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gebran Bassil \u2018coerced\u2019 my father to apologize, says Lebanese woman hailed for confronting MP<\/h2>\n
\n

\nBEIRUT: A Lebanese woman hailed as a hero for confronting the widely despised MP Gebran Bassil, has vowed to remain defiant despite claiming her father was forced to apologize for her actions.<\/p>\n

\nOn Sunday, a video was widely shared of Yasmine Masri scuffling with bodyguards working for the head of the Free Patriotic Movement [FPM] after she heckled him with a cry of \u201cshame on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe brawl took place at a restaurant in Bassil\u2019s home town of Batroun, northern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\nMasri said she was assaulted and had her phone broken by his security entourage but she told Arab News she was proud to confront Bassil. However, she said her father had been \u201ccoerced into apologizing\u201d for her the bust up.<\/p>\n

\nOn Tuesday, a photo of the MP and the 31-year-old woman\u2019s father was published in Lebanese media along with a story saying he met Bassil and apologized for his daughter\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nMasri says she was assaulted and had her phone broken by MP’s security entourage but says she was proud to confront Bassil. (Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\nMasri was having lunch with friends in a newly-opened restaurant in Batroun when she saw Bassil and his entourage.<\/p>\n

\nLebanese are furious with the ruling elite and blame them for plunging the country towards economic collapse.<\/p>\n

\nAs the son-in-law of Lebanese President Michel Aoun and a strong political ally of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Bassil in particular has come to symbolize the country\u2019s corrupt self-serving politicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nLast year, the US issued sanctions against him, accusing him of being \u201cnotorious for corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nSpeaking to Arab News, Masri said Bassil \u201cforced her father in to apologizing under threat, blackmailing and shaming him.\u201d She preferred not to give details of the nature of the blackmail.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI have received physical threats,\u201d she said. \u201cJust now, shortly before responding to this interview my mother called and asked me to stop; saying she doesn\u2019t want to pick me up injured from a hospital.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nBut Masri, who like many young Lebanese is broiling with anger over the country\u2019s plight, vowed not to stop expressing herself.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe food and drink manager was angered that Bassil had the audacity to show up in public as if he had no responsibility for the country\u2019s woes.<\/p>\n

\nRecounting what happened, she felt within her rights to shout \u201cshame on you\u201d in Arabic.<\/p>\n

\nShe said Bassil sent his bodyguards over to her and they threatened to beat her.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI told them go ahead and they started beating me \u2026 then I took back my phone and followed them and took a video. Then they beat me again and threw my phone on the floor and broke it,\u201d she added. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\nMasri said FPM supporters chased her for up to four hours around Batroun after the initial clash and would not let her leave the area.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cBatroun\u2019s pompous blowhards [supporters of FPM and Bassil] were spitting at me, insulting me and threatening me all over the place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\nMasri describes herself as a politically-independent civil society activist, who became active during widespread anti-government protests in October 2019.<\/p>\n

\nWhen asked if she was going to tone down her criticism for her dad\u2019s safety, she replied: \u201cNo, definitely not. I will not play the game as I don\u2019t go with threats \u2026 and if they will go violent, they will lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nOn whether she plans to initiate legal action, Masri said she had consulted a lawyer.<\/p>\n

\nBassil\u2019s media office said on Sunday that he and his family were about to leave in their car when a woman used foul language against him.<\/p>\n

\nHis entourage responded \u2018naturally, peacefully and modernly\u201d to stop her from cursing.<\/p>\n

\nThe statement said: \u201cThe era of leaving swearwords unanswered is over\u201d and urged FPM supporters to \u201crespond accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAfter hearing the news of her father\u2019s apology, Masri posted a statement saying: \u201cI hereby confirm to you that I will never shut up \u2026 I will never hide what I think in the face of fear, threats and terrorism \u2026 my father was threatened \u2026 all he is doing is in order to protect me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nInternational Lebanese artist Elissa said on Twitter \u201cevery hand that beats a woman should be broken.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gebran Bassil \u2018coerced\u2019 my father to apologize, says Lebanese woman hailed for confronting MP BEIRUT: A Lebanese woman hailed as a hero for confronting the widely despised MP Gebran Bassil, has vowed to remain defiant despite claiming her father was forced to apologize for her actions. On Sunday, a video was widely shared of Yasmine…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}