Lebanese Judge Dismisses Slavery Case – Blocking Path to Justice for Migrant Worker

Beirut, 11 November 2025 

In a devastating blow to justice and accountability in Lebanon, an investigating judge has dismissed the criminal case filed by Ethiopian migrant worker Meseret Hailu alleging her enforced slavery, despite a clear recommendation from the Public Prosecutor that the case proceed to full trial.  

The dismissal halts the prosecution of Meseret’s former employer and recruitment agent – both accused of slavery and slave trading under Lebanese anti-trafficking laws – and prevents the case from advancing to trial. 

Meseret Hailu

Meseret has already shown extraordinary courage throughout this process, travelling from rural Ethiopia – leaving her ill mother and young daughter – to testify in Beirut. She exposed years of abuse: confiscation of her passport, physical violence, isolation, and nearly seven years of unpaid labour. Despite the trauma, she continues to demand justice. 

Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), acting as Meseret’s legal representative, has filed an appeal requesting that a three-judge panel overturn the decision, confirm the charges against the accused, and submit the case to trial court. 

Witness statements and evidence supported Meseret’s testimony that she did not receive payment, her freedom of movement was restricted, and she was subjected to verbal and physical abuse. The Prosecutor concluded that the actions of the defendants constitute violations under Articles 569 and 586 of the Lebanese Penal Code – including human trafficking, forced labour and mistreatment of a domestic worker – and formally recommended that both be prosecuted before the Criminal Court of Mount Lebanon and charged accordingly. 

Despite this clear legal basis for prosecution, the investigating judge dismissed the case, relying on evidence the Prosecutor had already questioned due to inconsistencies and indications of coercion.  

“This decision sends a dangerous message: that even when a survivor of slavery fights her way through every barrier and stands before a judge to testify, the system still refuses to hear her,” said Antonia Mulvey, Executive Director of Legal Action Worldwide (LAW).

“Lebanon had a historic opportunity to show that no one is above the law – not employers, not recruiters, not abusers. Instead, today’s ruling reinforces a system of impunity. We will appeal, we will persist, and we will not allow this injustice to stand.”

This landmark case is the first in Lebanon – and the wider region – to argue that the conditions Meseret endured constituted slavery and slave trading. While Lebanon has seen other cases involving delayed pay, abuse, and forced labour, no other criminal complaint has sought to hold employers and recruitment agents accountable under anti-slavery provisions. 

The judge’s ruling denies Meseret equal access to justice and reinforces a longstanding pattern in Lebanon: employers who enslave, abuse, and exploit migrant domestic workers under the country’s ‘kafala’ system are rarely, if ever, held accountable. 

Notes to editors: 

According to an assessment by the International Organisation for Migration, there are approximately 400,000 migrant workers in Lebanon. A large majority are women and 70% come from Africa and Asia, in particular Ethiopia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. They come to Lebanon under the kafala system, a migration sponsorship scheme that gives citizens and companies in the country almost total control over MDWs employment and migration status. Human rights organisations have long described the kafala system as a form of legalised slavery. 

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