Two girls blackmailed in Saida & Beirut, handcuffed girl found in Mina

The ISF General Directorate-Public Relations Division, issued two statements related to gender-based violence. The first one noted that the department has received information filed to the Southern Detachment Police Station- the Regional Gendarmerie Unit, about a person blackmailing and threatening to publish the pictures of a girl in return for his silence. The girl begged the suspect to stop his threats which he agreed to if she paid him a specific sum of money. The ISF statement went on to say, that after a tight ambush, the man, born in 1994, was arrested in Saida and turned in to the competent judiciary. The second statement, released on November 29, stated that the CyberCrime Bureau received a complaint filed to Beirut Public Prosecution by a university student against an unknown person involving extortion and threat to publish intimate videos via social media. Upon investigation and surveillance, the suspect, born in 1996, was identified and arrested in Bliss Street, Hamra, Beirut. On the other hand, members of the Lebanese Army Maritime Center in al Mina, Tripoli, found a handcuffed girl thrown in the sea but still alive. The victim did not have identity papers. Under shock, the girl did not speak and was transferred to the hospital for treatment. Security forces are investigating the case. (Al Mustaqbal, November 29, December 1, 2019)