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The only woman involved so far in the despicable case of the abusers on TikTok has been arrested. She is an “influencer,” very active on social networks, nicknamed Gigi or Barbie, and was actively sought by the police. She was arrested at dawn on Saturday in Laylaki, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, by officers from the Cybercrime Bureau.
The blogger played the role of “facilitator,” in that her mission was to use social networks to lure minors who were then taken to apartments where they were raped and filmed. She was also responsible for threatening the victims if they decided to denounce the network.
All the apprehended convicts are under the authority of the first investigation judge of Mount Lebanon. This means that the cybercrime bureau has transferred all its accused to the judiciary and is now engaged in two main paths: chasing after the missing persons whose names appeared in the investigation and tracking the other people responsible, whose identities remain unclear.
According to an informed source, the attorney general at the court of appeal, judge Tanios Saghbini, issued a new list of accusations that includes five convicts, notably Ghadir Saleh Ghanawi, better known as Gigi Ghanawi, after having implemented the search warrant issued in her name days earlier. The anonymous source added that Ghanawi is involved “in dirty acts and has played a role in victimizing tens of children,” confirming that “she would meet the children on TikTok and lure them to the apartments where the gang’s crimes were committed. Ghanawi would host them at the door, not telling them that a number of men would be waiting in the living room, offering the victims chocolate tablets and glasses of juice mixed with a soporific substance. Upon ingesting the drink, the children would lose consciousness and be subjected to rape.” The source further stated that Gigi, who used this moniker to conceal her true identity, “took pictures of the children while they were raped and sent them to the leaders of the gang abroad, including Paul Meouch (Jai), a resident of Sweden who finances a large part of the operation in exchange for footage. Ghanawi also shares the videos with Pierre Naffah, who lives in Dubai, and others.”
With the number of accused having reached 17, including 11 convicts, all eyes are now on the Mount Lebanon investigation judge, Nicolas Mansour, who will initiate the inquiry at the start of next week. A judicial source stated that Mansour “looked closely into the preliminary investigation files that include hundreds of pages and substantial photographic and videographic evidence of torture and rape, incriminating the perpetrators beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The source also stated that the judge “will issue arrest warrants in propria persona at the earliest, as well as arrest warrants in absentia to the individuals who fled, in Lebanon or abroad,” and that in absentia warrants “will be immediately sent to Interpol’s Lebanon office, which will then be transferred to the organization’s main office, so that the warrants in question become international and binding to any country hosting any of the accused, with obligation to repatriate them to Lebanon as soon as possible.”
Returning from her travels, Mount Lebanon General Prosecutor, Judge Ghada Aoun, resumed supervision over the preliminary investigation alongside Judge Saghbini, giving the necessary instructions to the employees of the judiciary. Additionally, the same accusations were made against the five individuals, including “the establishment of a human trafficking criminal network, money laundering, the use of social media, including TikTok, the use of fake names, luring children, abusing them physically, threatening them with death, and raping them.” The same judicial source added that the second list of accusations pointed to the dangerous role played by the network leaders and members who “forced the abused children to ingest hallucinogens before proceeding to rape them, take naked pictures of them, sell the pictures, and, in some cases, attempt to kill some of the victims by using violent means that almost resulted in their death.” The incriminating clauses stipulate “severe sanctions ranging from a 3-year prison sentence to 20 years of hard labor.”
The scandal is not limited to Lebanon; it garnered the attention of countless people in the Arab world and beyond, given that the crimes were not only committed in Lebanon. This means that the international response to the Lebanese judiciary’s request will be swift, as there is a fear that the same deeds will occur in the countries hosting the perpetrators.
