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Ex-Lebanese PM Saad Hariri sued for rape, sexual assault of private jet attendants
One woman accuses Hariri, regularly drunk and high, of brutal workplace rape; one assault allegedly en route to US state visit; his lawyer denies claims, says plaintiffs want money
Lebanon’s former prime minister Saad Hariri has been sued in a US court after he allegedly repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted airline stewardesses, including en route to a 2007 state visit in Washington.
According to reports in US outlets CNN and The New York Post, two women, hailing from Australia and Wales and referred to in court documents only as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, are bringing the case against Hariri.
The women allege that the former Lebanese leader was regularly drunk and high on cocaine and prescription medications during flights on his Boeing-737 between 2006 and 2009, wherein he would routinely grope the women and raped one of them multiple times.
Jane Doe 2 has accused Hariri of “brutal workplace rape,” according to CNN.
The lawsuit said the women were subjected “to an atmosphere permeated with inappropriate sexual contact, coercion, harassment, and demands for sexual favors.”
Hariri’s plane was part of a fleet owned by Saudi Oger, a now-defunct construction company based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, founded and owned by his father Rafik Hariri, also a former prime minister of Lebanon.
Court documents filed in Brooklyn Federal Court on March 20 alleged that Jane Doe 1’s boss, Helen Conlon, told her employee in explicit language that if she wanted to work for the company she needed to be willing to perform oral sex on Hariri.
In another incident, Hariri is said to have grabbed Jane Doe 1’s genitals, telling her: “I like you. I’ll see you again, very soon.”
In 2008, staff on the plane were told there would be a Christmas party on board, and were asked to dress in “sexy Santa” costumes.
Court documents said Jane Doe 1 quit her job in 2009, and Jane Doe 2 was fired by the company in 2010.
Hariri, 52, served as Lebanon’s prime minister between 2009 and 2011 and again from 2016 to 2020.
“Defendant S. HARIRI abused his position of authority in the airline for his own sexual gratification while repeatedly victimizing both Plaintiffs,” the documents read.
The New York Post said that the lawsuit was the third attempt by the pair to sue Hariri. The two previous attempts were either withdrawn by the plaintiffs or dismissed by a judge.
A lawyer representing Hariri claimed the plaintiffs had “engaged in years-long harassment of Mr. Hariri with the goal of using false and inflammatory allegations in an effort to wrongfully extract millions of dollars.”
A statement released by Hariri’s spokesperson labeled the claims “outrageous, sensational and defamatory … [and] completely false,” and accused the women of seeking to extort funds from Hariri in order to drop the lawsuits, the New York Post said.
