Lebanon to investigate assault complaints against ambassador to France

Ambassador Rami Adwan has denied allegations made by two former embassy employees

Two women who formerly worked at the Lebanese Embassy in Paris have accused Ambassador Rami Adwan of assault. Wikimedia commons

Lebanon is to send a team of investigators to Paris after its ambassador to France, Rami Adwan, was accused of rape and intentional violence, the Foreign Ministry said.

France has launched an investigation into Mr Adwan following complaints by two former embassy employees, according to sources.

The French government has urged Lebanese authorities to lift the ambassador's diplomatic immunity.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said they have decided to “urgently send an investigation committee headed by the ministry's secretary-general … to the embassy in Paris to question the concerned ambassador and hear statements from embassy staff”.

The committee will meet French authorities “to clarify that which was reported in the media and which was not communicated to the Lebanese foreign ministry via diplomatic channels”

Reports in local media suggest that the first former employee, 31, filed her complaint in June last year over a rape she says was committed in May 2020 in the ambassador's private apartment.

According to the complaint, she had a relationship with the ambassador, who carried out “psychological and physical violence with daily humiliations”.

The second woman, 28, made a complaint last February after what she said was a series of physical attacks after she turned down sexual relations.

She claimed Mr Adwan tried to hit her with his car after an argument at the Normandy World Peace Forum.

“In view of the seriousness of the facts mentioned, we consider it necessary for the Lebanese authorities to lift the immunity of the Lebanese ambassador in Paris in order to facilitate the work of the French judicial authorities,” the French Foreign Ministry said.

Mr Adwan's lawyer Karim Beylouni has said that his client “contests all accusations of aggression in any shape or form: verbal, moral, sexual”.

He said Mr Adwan had had “romantic relationships” with the two women between 2018 and 2022 that were “punctuated by arguments and breakups”.