| Advertisement |
April 1 (UPI) -- Two flight attendants have accused Saad Al-Hariri, the billionaire former prime minister of Lebanon, of sexual assault and "brutal workplace rape" on numerous occasions, according to a new lawsuit. The flight attendants, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 in court documents, were allegedly sexually assaulted by Al-Hariri while he was prime minister on his private plane.
Advertisement
"This is the third time these anonymous plaintiffs who do not live in, or have any ties to the United States, have filed a lawsuit replete with outrageous, sensational and defamatory allegations that are completely false, and brought against a man who also has no ties to the U.S," a spokesperson for Al-Hariri said in a statement to UPI.
"After another New York court granted our motion to dismiss their original lawsuit and rejected a second filing outright, they are now trying to get a third bite at the apple."
The spokesperson for Al-Hariri alleged that the latest litigation was "filed by a law firm that has been sanctioned by courts numerous times for misconduct." Court records show it was filed on March 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
"Mr. Hariri remains unwilling to pay the millions of dollars they demanded in exchange for not filing these lawsuits," the spokesperson for Al-Hariri said.
"This is nothing more than a smear campaign concocted by two women seeking a windfall and tarnishing Mr. Hariri's reputation in the process. There is no truth to these baseless allegations. Mr. Hariri will vigorously defend against them and is confident he will prevail just as he did in the original case."
Al-Hariri, the 52-year-old son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafic Al-Hariri, served as prime minister himself from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2016 to 2020.
The most serious accusations from the latest lawsuit were made by Jane Doe 2, who alleged that she joined the Saudi construction company Saudi Oger in 2006. The company is owned by the Al-Hariri family.
She was first assigned to work on the plane of Nazik Hariri, the stepmother of Al-Hariri, court records obtained by UPI show.
Al-Hariri used his stepmother's plane on a flight for a state visit with former President George W. Bush in September 2007, and asked the flight attendant to bring him a bottle of water.
When the woman entered his onboard room, Al-Hariri was lying in the bed naked, according to the lawsuit.
"Without warning, [he] lunged at [her], violently grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him," the lawsuit reads.
The woman, overcome with fear and anxiety, allegedly refused to kiss the prime minister goodnight and tried to leave the room.
"Al-Hariri became irate and forcefully pulled her towards him," the lawsuit reads.
The woman was eventually able to free herself and ran from the room. However, on the flight back to Paris from Washington, Al-Hariri again instructed the woman to bring him water.
"Al-Hariri violently slammed Plaintiff Doe 2 against the bedroom wall, pinned her hands above her head, and forcibly kissed her," the lawsuit reads.
The prime minister then "forcibly rubbed" the woman's vagina "very hard" over her clothing, before allegedly ripping off her underwear.
The woman was able to run from the room, but Al-Hariri allegedly ensured that she was transferred to work on his plane in the future.
She alleged that she was "forcibly raped" by Al-Hariri, who she alleged was not wearing a condom, shortly after takeoff on a flight from New York to Washington, after he demanded that she bring him a cup of espresso. He then instructed her to return to work, "as if nothing happened."
Al-Hariri again "violently raped" the woman around in 2008 after an in-flight Christmas party.
"Al-Hariri ejaculated inside of Plaintiff DOE 2 and did not use a condom," the lawsuit reads. "Plaintiff Doe 2 feared that [he] had infected her with a sexually transmitted disease and that she may become pregnant."
She was raped on at least two more occasions, according to the lawsuit.
Jane Doe 1, who was also hired by the company in 2006, was assigned to work on Al-Hariri's private plane shortly after she was hired and flew with the former prime minister on trips that landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
She alleged that she experienced "harassment and intimidation" from many men on those flights, including Al-Hariri, from the beginning of her employment.
The woman alleged that she went alone to Al-Hariri's private bathroom while it was unoccupied on a flight from Washington, D.C., to New York City. The politician allegedly pushed her up against the wall of the bathroom and forced his tongue inside of her mouth.
In her lawsuit, Jane Doe 1 said she "made every effort to push him away and turned her head to one side" but that Hariri blocked the exit and prevented her from leaving the bathroom.
She was eventually able to free herself and returned to the cabin, the lawsuit reads.
However, Al-Hariri's sexual advances "persisted and occurred on nearly every flight" which the woman worked, according to the lawsuit.
"I like you. I'll see you again, very soon," Al-Hariri allegedly told the woman after he forcibly grabbed her vagina on another flight to New York.Al-Hariri allegedly tried to unzip her skirt and unbutton her blouse "on numerous other occasions," according to the lawsuit.
Jane Doe 1 alleged that she once witnessed Hariri emerge from the plane bathroom with one of her colleagues, who looked "on the verge of tears" and recounted being forced to perform oral sex on the prime minister after a flight to Paris in 2009.
She quit her job later that year after Al-Hariri forcibly penetrated her with his finger, the lawsuit reads. She alleges that she was "blacklisted" from seeking other employment after her resignation.
The women have previously tried to sue Al-Hariri in a state court in New York on two other occasions, but the lawsuits were either dropped or dismissed by a judge.
Rita Glavin, Al-Hariri's lawyer, told a judge in August that the women have "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," the New York Post reported.
The women are seeking unspecified damages in their federal lawsuit.
