Lebanese judicial authorities took the former Palestinian Authority envoy to Beirut into custody on Monday as part of proceedings to extradite him to face financial crime charges in Ramallah, a Lebanese judicial source confirmed to AFP on Monday.
According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the court “issued an arrest warrant for former Palestinian ambassador Ashraf Dabbour on Monday after questioning him."
The source further explained that the court “transferred the file to the government to inform the Palestinian Authority that Dabbour is detained in Lebanon, and requested that his judicial file be sent to Lebanon... in preparation for handing him over" to the PA.
Dabbour, who headed the {A diplomatic mission in Beirut from 2012 until 2025, was previously intercepted by security officials upon his arrival at Beirut's international airport in April following a request by the Palestinian Authority.
The PA accuses the former diplomat of financial corruption and misappropriation of funds during his tenure in Lebanon. Following his initial detention in the spring, Lebanese authorities imposed a travel ban prohibiting him from leaving the country.
Dabbour has publicly rejected the allegations leveled against him. In a video statement uploaded to his personal Facebook page in May, the former envoy dismissed the claims, asserting that the charges were designed to tarnish his reputation.
Prior to that, in an April Facebook post, Dabbour pointed fingers at Yasser Abbas, the son of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, claiming he was “exploiting his control over the security services and his influence within the authority to use them to settle his personal scores... by pursuing me with arrest warrants from one place to another."
Accusations of corruption in the PA date back to at least 2011, when several PA cabinet officials were indicted as part of a probe.