Lebanese judges are set to end their five-month strike after an agreement on financial assistance was reached. Judicial work should resume progressively on Monday, The National has been told. The deal struck with the judges’ mutual fund for financial assistance aims to improve judges' purchasing power after their salaries were slashed by more than 95 per cent amid a sharp currency depreciation. Lebanon's unprecedented economic crisis, described by the World Bank as one of the worst in modern history, has taken a huge toll on judicial staff — and all the public sector’s professions. Judges started a strike in mid-August to protest against the decline of their salaries and the deterioration of their work conditions. As judges join strike for better pay and conditions ordinary Lebanese suffer This led to paralysis of the judicial system, with some of the nation’s top courts completely halting their activities, including for urgent judiciary matters.

Last week, the general assembly of judges agreed on new financial support, “ranging between $500 and $1200 per month, which will be financed by the Ministry of Finance, through the judges’ mutual fund”, a judicial source told The National. This is a type of monthly bonus, and not a salary increase, because “this would have implied a revaluation of the end-of-service indemnities”, the person said, who was not involved in the negotiations. Following the decision, the Supreme Judicial Council called “judges to return to the exercise of their duties, in a way that secures the continuity of the judicial public service”, in a statement published on Thursday. It is not known how the cash-strapped country will finance this new financial support in dollars, as details remain sparse. A Ministry of Finance representative said they did not have information on the mechanism and The National could not reach the Ministry of Justice for comment.

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by naharnet -- Lebanon has charged seven people for participating in an attack against United Nations peacekeepers that killed one Irish soldier in mid-December, a judicial official told AFP on Thursday. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were injured on December 14 when their U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the village of al-Aqbiyeh in the south of the country, a stronghold of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah. UNIFIL urged Beirut to ensure a swift investigation, the first violent death of one of its peacekeepers in nearly eight years. Seven bullets pierced the U.N. vehicle, one hitting the driver in the head, judicial sources said. Only one of the seven charged is in custody, Mohammed Ayyad, who was handed over to the army by Hezbollah last month. On Wednesday, Ayyad was charged "with killing the Irish soldier and attempting to kill his three comrades by shooting them with a machine gun," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they did not have permission to speak to the media. The judge also charged six fugitives "for uttering threats with an illegal weapon, destroying the UNIFIL vehicle and intimidating its passengers," the official added.

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