Many people thought that with Suzane Hobeiche finally gone from her position, the Cybercrimes Bureau in Lebanon would finally stop being a police state tool to intimidate innocent taxpayers, activists and journalists. Her brutal fall from grace after fabricating the case against Ziad Itani, might have given some people hope that crooked police officers can no longer ruin the lives of good Lebanese people.

The case of Mayache and her daughter Tulsi, shows that the problem hasn’t gone away, but has become much worse. You can read about it here. And you can see the original post here, which she is being sued for.

Why Things Are Worse Now

The reason things have gotten worse is because the Cybercrimes Bureau, with its questionable legality, is merely a tool that prosecutors in Lebanon abuse to intimidate and bully people.

To better illustrate this example, I will use my case to illustrate how despicable people and organizations, can use this tactic to try and silence those speaking out against their malpractice and criminal activities.

How it Works

I wrote about a pyramid scheme a few years back, “Bonofa — Cube 7”. They were a group of cunning snake oil salespeople, who preyed on the desperate with a promise of quick money. In effect, they were selling nothing, just empty promises, and making money from recruiting more and more hapless people who fell for their scheme and paid hundreds, and even thousands of dollars to be part of this get-rich-quick-scheme. I’m happy to say, it’s been shut down, and the bosses behind it spent days in jail for the money they stole and wired abroad.

The thieves were upset that someone was onto them. So, they used bribes and pressure, to get some shit lawyer in Tripoli to file a lawsuit against me for my article, and used their influence to push the case at lightning speed. Since I publish my work online, the prosecutor referred the lawsuit to the Cybercrimes bureau.

What happened next, was like the mob. They called me, on my cell, instead of actually summoning me, which the law dictates. They called at 2 in the afternoon, and insisted I come “drink coffee” at their offices the next morning. They refused to say why, and insisted I not get a lawyer with me. They called at 2, knowing the government is shut down by then, and I can’t enquire about the reason, and thus prepare myself. If you think that’s bad, they sometimes lie, and entrap victims by telling them stuff like “your phone is stolen” to get them in the door, then try to coerce them into admitting guilt that is not even there.

What the detectives there then do, is “question” you, and then the intimidation starts. They start threatening that “you might sleep here tonight” if you don’t agree to sign a “pledge” to never mention whoever filed the lawsuit against you. Thing is though, they can’t arrest you for slander and libel. It’s just a scare tactic, to coerce taxpayers into admitting guilt and pledging to never mention the issue again.

The Solution

The real problem then, is not the Cybercrimes bureau, but the prosecutors who are willing to drag a young mother to the same precinct where they arrest child pornographers and money launderers, because she dared speak up about the abuse Wellspring Learning Community dealt on her and her family.

The only way this will stop, is if the judiciary in Lebanon stops dragging people for freedom of expression cases, to police stations, and hands out jail sentences for statuses and tweets like candy on Halloween.

This government should be ashamed of themselves. Thugs like the Eden Bay Resort occupiers, who are actively trying to hack accounts of activists fighting back online, were never summoned to the Cybercrimes bureau. It seems a young mother is a far worse criminal than hackers working at the employ of an illegal resort occupying public land.

Tfeh 3laykon. Sisi Wannabes.

Anyway, since the judiciary will not magically become un-corrupt overnight, let’s make sure that evil corporations like Eden Bay and Wellspring, get their reputations tarnished for daring to attack people’s right to freedom of expression.

If you are parents, or know parents, make sure they do not put their kids through the questionable and degrading treatment of that horrible institution going after a mother for sharing her frustration online.

This is the Facebook page of the school that is targeting mothers and children like some dictatorial piece of shit, for merely exposing their money-grabbing scheme, poor customer service and unprofessional behavior.

Good Luck Mayache ❤

The investigators will try to persuade you to sign a pledge, we hope you won’t. In any case, now everyone knows, so Wellspring’s bullying backfired, and we all know what kind of disgusting, shameful outfit they are now.

Let’s hope anyone who thinks they can quash freedom of expression, learns that it will bite them in the ass, and we will always expose them.

And if Wellspring have any class, they will drop their lawsuit, unless the message they are teaching their students is how to rip people off, then punish them for speaking up.

For those of you who don’t already know, a hotel was built on the last remaining stretch of public beach in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital. Despite the country’s highest court ordering construction to stop, the developers pushed through, flexing their muscles to try and shut everyone bringing up their project. MTV even tried to sell off its position, offering to flip its originally critical stance, to one that boasts the disputed resort as a “jewel of Lebanese tourism”

Lebanese Citizens Didn’t Take it Lying Down

In the face of the government’s inability to listen to our judiciary, and despite the resort opening without the necessary permits form the Municipality of Beirut, activists weren’t letting this one slide.

The hotel had to set up an armed perimeter, to keep protesters at bay (pun intended) during their “opening”.

So, people started to give the hotel’s Facebook page a “1 star” rating, within less than 2 hours, hundreds of 1-star reviews tanked the resort’s rating to less than 2.2 stars.

The hotel forced their employees, and tried to recruit school students from a school the same group owns, to give the resort fake 5-star reviews. It wasn’t enough, the protest 1-star ratings were dwarfing the feeble attempts to counter-balance them with employees that had no other choice. How shameful to force people into taking a stand they might not want to.

The hotel then proceeded to remove the reviews option altogether from their page after failing miserably at their coercion of employees and subsidiaries to fake 5-star them.

Tanking rating on the Google Maps

And then they listed it as “permanently closed” as it continued to drop!

I think it’s great that citizens are taking a decision to make their displeasure and anger felt, for would-be hotel-goers. In the face of the government’s unwillingness to act, the only peaceful method left is make sure that the resrot’s reputation is tarnished after their heavy-handed attempts to shut people up about them breaking the law and trying to spin the story different.