Judicial valet

byHabib Battah
Jul 8, 2013

Last night while cruising down Charles Malek–one of Ashrafieh’s busiest roads– I was almost forced to veer and crash into the car on my left, because a black mercedes was curiously parked in my lane.

Upon closer inspection, I could see that the nice guy who created this hazard owned a 3 number plate–which in Lebanon– will cost more money than the German sports car he was driving.

Then upon even closer inspection, we see this plate belongs to a member of the “judiciary” as indicated in the red section below the justice scale.

All this begs the question: If a legal authority parks in the middle of the road, does this set a legal precedent for such behavior, therefore making it legal?

I wonder if judge “898” can enlighten us.

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.

2 comments

Anonymous says:

Jul 11, 2013 at 1:41 pm

u r living in a dream world. It’s good judge “898” did not file charges against you for not respecting his roayal right of doing whatever he wants unquestioned and then drag you to a prison cell, of which no one knows. You must thank your luck!!!

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Habib Battah says:

Dec 8, 2013 at 3:52 pm

I’m sure the judge appreciates you being intimidated by him. Maybe he will hire you if you’re lucky.

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