Lebanese actor Ziyad Itani: ‘I used to be underneath no instances a watch’

Closing November, Ziyad Itani went from being a outstanding Lebanese actor, playwright and local movie vital individual to being an alleged Israeli watch informing on other intellectuals and government officers.

Itani‘s world came crashing down on him as he used to be detained in Roumieh Penitentiary pending extra investigations and a court date.

The favorable statements by the General Directorate of Command Safety, the agency that arrested and investigated the costs against him, urged at the time it used to be an originate-and-shut case of treason and espionage.

It is illegitimate underneath Lebanese law to chase to or to rob in any dealings or communications with Israel, which Lebanon considers an enemy divulge.

Nevertheless in a unexpected flip of events on March 13, Itani‘s fortunes changed again when he used to be released from prison, and the costs against him had been effectively dropped following a possibility by Protection power Investigative Have interaction Riad Abu Ghaida.

In a extra twist within the case, Have interaction Abu Ghaida issued arrest warrants for Lieutenant-Colonel Suzanne Hajj Hobeiche, a obsolete head of the Anti-Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau, and hacker Elie Ghabash on suspicion of fabricating and framing the case against Itani.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Itani said he underneath no instances used to be a watch, and that he’s an innocent man.

He said he had consistently supported the Palestinian of us’s strive against against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and used to be an brisk indicate against normalising political and cultural ties with Israel.

He said he used to be framed to assemble him ogle love if he used to be verbal change with agents from Mossad, the Israeli watch agency.

Al Jazeera: You had been jailed after you had been accused of being a sit down up for Israel final November and the federal government said you « confessed » to the costs against you. Nevertheless, quite loads of months later you walked house a free man after a remove made up our minds to commence you without bail or any charges against you. Uncover us what came about.

Ziyad Itani: After I used to be arrested, my case used to be transferred from the General Directorate of Command Safety to the Protection power Justice court underneath Investigative Have interaction Riad Abu Ghaida.

After taking a ogle at my case, he clear that the handiest evidence they had against me used to be a non-public message on my Fb messenger and on my email account, which I did now not originate or read.

After two classes, the remove made up our minds to elongate the investigation by enlisting the Inner Safety Forces Directorate-Files Department, (ISF) to review the case extra. In the within the meantime, I refuted and denied the so-called confession sooner than the remove.

The ISF investigation resulted in discovering and later absorbing the hacker Elie Ghabash, who therefore implicated Lieutenant-Colonel Hobeiche because the one who employed him to border me.

After that pattern, I used to be released without bail, which meant that the costs had been dropped. Now we are awaiting the conclusion of the investigation of Hobeiche and Ghabash.

Al Jazeera: Whereas the case appears that you had been framed to ogle love an Israeli watch, had been you at any point thinking for your thoughts that you had been having conversations with Israeli agents or working for Israel?

Itani: No. I used to be no longer even communicating by the usage of messages on my Fb or email account. I did now not even ogle these messages.

Al Jazeera: Then why did Command Safety sigh in an favorable commentary that there had been exchanges between you and an Israeli agent posing as a Swedish lady and that you confessed to that on tape?

Itani: At this point, I’ll no longer be in a space to discuss such intricate facts due to the the continuing investigation against officer Hobeiche and the hacker. Nevertheless as soon as the remove reaches his closing possibility, I’ll legally sigh extra about this.

Al Jazeera: Command Safety additionally said within the commentary that you confessed, on tape. What develop you sigh about that?

Itani: I am fully denying and fill rejected this accusation. After all, of the investigations that had been accomplished by the very smartly-behaved ISF, it proved I used to be innocent, and I used to be released with none strings connected.

Al Jazeera: As an actor and a Lebanese intellectual, where develop you stand about having political or cultural ties with Israel?

Itani: My, and my entire family’s, ethical space against Israel ought to head without asserting right here. We, as Lebanese, fill historically supported our Palestinian brothers and stood by them by incompatibility enemy [Israel].

Nevertheless if I would possibly possibly well per chance explain one example right here in regards to the prison act committed by the enemy [Israel] against the Turkish flotilla [led by the] Mavi Marmara in 2010 that used to be presupposed to interrupt the Israeli siege of Gaza, I called, along with other journalists within the country, for organising and sending yet another assist ship to Gaza.

We surely did that and organised the ship, called Naji al Ali, which used to be presupposed to retain – along with assist – journalists and activists from all segments of Lebanese society. I used to be the representative and a spokesperson for this mission. I used to be even called as well to 2 others a « terrorist journalist » by the enemy due to the our dedication to the Palestinian motive.

Al Jazeera: Several of us in Lebanon demonstrate your pork up for Lebanese director Ziyad Doueiri, who has travelled to Israel and made movies there.

In the movie, The Assault, Doueiri employed Reymonde Amsallem, an Israeli actress, to play a Palestinian character. He additionally shot the movie in Israel, with the back of the Israeli government. 

In, The Insult, Doueiri advances the argument of the Lebanese Christian militias against the Palestinians, concluding that they are the enemy due to the their actions in Lebanon and that the Lebanese don’t fill anyplace with Israel.

Itani: First, what I said about Doueiri at the time used to be no longer being conveyed precisely on the Lebanese social media.

Doueiri directed his movie in Israel and went backward and forward between Israel and Lebanon in most cases over, and no one from both from the federal government or the general public said anything to him about that.

Nevertheless when the movie used to be publicly released, and it used to be well-liked, a storm of objections went up against him.

What I said at the time used to be I criticised folks that had been objecting to Ziyad’s movie stating that they surely had been after him due to the the successes he done in his movie, no longer due to the his normalisation with Israel.

I additionally said that they had been cowards and that they ought to fill objected to Doueiri’s normalisation and filed pleasant complaints against him within the event that they had been pleasant about it. Nevertheless they did now not.

Al Jazeera: How develop you’re feeling about Doueiri’s work, particularly when treating the Palestinians as an ‘enemy’ of Lebanon?

Itani: Successfully, first it is a have to to ogle at Doueiri during a particular time period when he used to be to us, a younger and upcoming know-how, an icon of Lebanese cinema. Right here’s particularly correct when he did his [1998] movie, West Beirut. Nevertheless, when he went and labored at some stage within the enemy’s territory [Israel], I believed to be it an unnecessary strive as a filmmaker. I seemed at that as one among his shortcomings – [trying] to normalise cultural ties with Israel.

Al Jazeera: What’s your scrutinize, as a Lebanese actor and intellectual, of cultural and creative ties with Israel underneath essentially the most contemporary prerequisites?

Itani: First, Lebanon is the one country within the Arab world that has paid extra blood in defence of the Palestinian motive by incompatibility entity [Israel]. This entity can’t be permitted in our societies because it used to be built on our blood and at the expense of our of us.

Observe Ali Younes on Twitter @ ali_reports