Scapegoating Ali Mahfouz

Yes, Ali Mahfouz was the man who beat and humiliated Alem before she took her own life, and it is great news that he is now charged with contributing to her death because it will send the right message to other would-be abusers

But it would be wrong to stop here, or Mahfouz would simply be seen as a scapegoat used to calm Lebanon’s international PR headache. The best course of action right now is to reform the sponsorship model (kafala) of employment, a model which establishes a master-slave paradigm as soon as a guest worker arrives to the airport.

A plan already exists for such reform. All we need now is political will.