BEIRUT (MEMO) – Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has been accused of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting two airline stewardesses and is being sued in a U.S. court.
According to CNN, the flight attendants claim they were assaulted by Hariri aboard his private Boeing-737 plane between 2006 and 2009, with one incident having taken place en route to a state visit in Washington in 2007.
The complaint was filed in a U.S. District Court in New York on 20 March against the former prime minister and five co-defendants. The women identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 have both accused Hariri of “multiple instances of false imprisonment, sexual assault, and sexual harassment”, while Doe 2 also accused Hariri of “brutal workplace rape.”
Court documents also mention that the former statesman subjected both plaintiffs “to an atmosphere permeated with inappropriate sexual contact, coercion, harassment, and demands for sexual favors.”
“Defendant S. HARIRI abused his position of authority in the airline for his own sexual gratification while repeatedly victimizing both Plaintiffs,” the documents added. The New York Post also reports that the papers allege that Hariri was “heavily medicated” and his cronies drank and did cocaine during the flights.
On Saturday, Hariri’s press office denied the accusations in a statement to CNN stating the lawsuit is, “full of completely false and unacceptable accusations, aimed at provocation and slander against Prime Minister Hariri.”
The statement also claims this is the third time the two plaintiffs have tried to sue Hariri in New York, saying, “this is nothing but a defamation campaign orchestrated by two women who are looking for financial gain.” The statement adds, “there is no truth to these baseless allegations.”
The women, who hail from Australia and Wales, sued Hariri, a dual citizen in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, under New York State’s Adult Survivors Act and are seeking unspecified damages.
Hariri, 52, served as Lebanon’s prime minister from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2016 to 2020 before withdrawing from politics in 2022 and has been residing in the UAE. He briefly returned to Beirut in February to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the assassination of his father Rafic Hariri, who himself served two terms as prime minister.