The World Council for the Cedars Revolution (WCCR) joined with the US State Department to condemn the actions of Judge Muhammad Mazieh who has apparently “ordered” all Lebanese media to refrain from publishing US Ambassador Dorothy Shea’s comments for one year after she criticized Hezbollah’s current stranglehold on Lebanon

US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, June 29, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The World Council for the Cedars Revolution (WCCR) joined with the US State Department to condemn the actions of Judge Muhammad Mazieh who has apparently “ordered” all Lebanese media to refrain from publishing US Ambassador Dorothy Shea’s comments for one year after she criticized Hezbollah’s current stranglehold on Lebanon.

Said Ambassador Shea: "It [Hezbollah] has siphoned off billions of dollars that should have gone into government coffers so that the government can provide basic services to its people," she said. "It has obstructed some of the economic reforms the Lebanese economy so desperately needs."

“Ambassador Shea is absolutely right,” said WCCR Secretary General, Tom Harb. “Hezbollah’s tentacles reach into every arm of the Lebanese government and financial institutions. Their use of a mixture of bribery and intimidation is masterful and long-standing. Very few Lebanese have the courage to stand against them individually, but the silent majority wants an end to the corruption of their institutions. Hezbollah is slowing destroying Lebanon.”

“The United States government cannot oppose this terrorist organization everywhere in the world, while quietly allowing it to flourish in Lebanon,” added WCCR National Director, John Hajjar. “It’s ironic that this judge accused our Ambassador of interfering in Lebanese internal affairs, while Hezbollah was founded by Iran, is massively financed by Iran and directed at every turn by Iran. How is that not interference in Lebanese internal affairs?”

Hossein Khorram, AMCD Vice Chair, states: "Judge Muhammad Mazieh, or better said, his Tehran masters, wish to take what little free press is left in Lebanon with this political stunt. Now civil and criminal penalties can be brought against those few brave journalist when threat and intimidation has failed against them. An independent judiciary is essential for any democratic society and I find it a mockery of justice for a sovereign nation's judiciary to protect interest of another nation before their own."

“Hezbollah needs to be disarmed as per UNSCR 1559,” continued Mr. Harb.”Otherwise, the Lebanese people will continue paying the price for their country’s instability.”

WCCR maintains that Hezbollah has corrupted every aspect of Lebanese life. We applaud Ambassador Shea for her courage in speaking out against this evil terrorist organization. Calling it a political party does not change its Iranian-born terrorist stripes. If the Lebanese are to taste freedom once more, Hezbollah must be completely purged from the government and civil society. We stand with Ambassador Shea and the Silent Majority in Lebanon.

Rebecca Bynum

World Council for the Cedars Revolution

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By Alexandra Smith -

NSW upper house MP Shaoquett Moselmane will take leave from Parliament but says he is not a suspect in the investigation into allegations Chinese government agents have infiltrated his office.

Mr Moselmane, who was suspended from the Labor Party on Friday just hours after his south Sydney home and Parliament office were raided by Australian Federal Police, said: "I have done nothing wrong."

In his first public statement since the raids, Mr Moselmane said he had been told he is not a suspect in the investigation.

"The investigation is linked to other people allegedly advancing the goals of a foreign government, namely the People's Republic of China," Mr Moselmane said.

"I am not sure what those goals are. Let me tell you at the outset, according to what I have been told, this is a federal police investigation.

"I have never been introduced or made aware of any ASIO officers either at my home or in my parliamentary office during the execution of the search warrants."

Legal representatives for Mr Moselmane contacted the clerk of the Legislative Council on Monday morning, asking the clerk to alert media that he wanted to make a statement.

His statement came after Labor leader Jodi McKay said on Sunday she would move to have Mr Moselmane suspended from Parliament if he did not agree to step aside. The government also intends to move a motion to have him suspended.

In a letter to upper house MPs, Mr Moselmane said he would take leave for the duration of the investigation to ensure he was not an "unnecessary distraction" to the Parliament.

He said that, during his leave, neither he or his staff would access his parliamentary office, or access any emails, computers or telephones that would normally be available to him.

In his statement, Mr Moselmane said the "political lynching" had already begun.

"I am under no illusion that this is a serious investigation. The first of its kind, precedents will be set and lives changed," Mr Moselmane said.

"Let me tell you, I have done nothing wrong. I have done nothing wrong. I have never jeopardised the welfare of our country or our people."

Mr Moselmane said his views on China were the views that any Australian was entitled to have.

"As you are aware, the Australian Chinese community has been under sustained political racial and physical abuse. They do not deserve the slander that they have received and they certainly did not deserve the abuse and violent physical attacks they have so far sustained," he said

"Chinese Australians are a humble law-abiding group of citizens who go about their lives in peace, looking after their families and minding their own business.

"I am proud of them, I am also proud of my association with them and proud to stand up for them

in these tough and unjust times."

He said his views on China and its handling of coronavirus, which saw him forced to resign as assistant president of the upper house, were "consistent with those of [US] President [Donald] Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence as well as [the] World Health Organisation".

Mr Moselmane said it was clear a political witch-hunt was under way and he pleaded with the media to treat his family with respect.

The past few days had been "tough and traumatic", he said,

He said he had never been in Labor’s shadow cabinet and had never been privy to any "secrets of the state".

He did not take questions, and would not comment on whether he intended to resign.