A Lebanese woman was removed from her high-profile position earlier this week after she 'liked' a sarcastic tweet about Saudi women finally being allowed to drive, reported Lebanese media outlet An Nahar.
After being fired, she has become something of a hero on Lebanese social media.
Major Suzan Hajj Hobeiche, often described as "Lebanon's most powerful woman", was on Tuesday removed from her position as head of the Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau after she 'liked' a tweet by film director Charbel Khalil.
The filmmaker, in his tweet, made a joke that "women in Saudi Arabia were only allowed to drive if the car was booby-trapped", reported An Nahar. By a royal decree, Saudi Arabian women were given the right to drive last week after nearly three decades of campaigning by rights activists.
Khali's tweet might have been referring to a Reuters news reports that some Saudi women's rights activists have been told to not speak about the issue of women driving. Activists said they had received phone calls ordering them to remain silent on the decree or face reprisals.
"He was very straightforward. He said you are ordered not to comment on the women driving issue or procedures will be taken against you. You are held accountable for anything posted after this call," said one of the activists to Reuters, about a call she received.
The Lebanese filmmaker's tweet about "booby-trapped cars" might have been referencing these alleged threats.
Hobeiche soon 'unliked' the tweet as it started being noticed. She said she hit the 'like' button by mistake, but someone had already taken a screenshot of her earlier 'like' and circulated it.
Hobeiche, who was appointed as head of the Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau in 2012, has a history of sharing her political views on social media. This has often sparked controversy as she is reportedly in violation of guidelines of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF). She has apparently been warned by the ISF before, to no avail.
Hobeiche once apparently called politicians "monkeys" in a Facebook post, and said, "Lebanon is lacking politicians and citizens working for its benefit" in another, reported Al Bawaba, a news and technology content distributor in the Middle East.
A host of people on Twitter came out in Hobeiche's support.
Suzan Hajj Hobeiche ... you are an Alpha Woman!
— Booshra Farah (@BooshraF) October 3, 2017
You have always… https://t.co/l3hg7ZmJQK
#سوزان_الحاج_حبيش is my Wonder Woman
— Mustafa Y. Fakhoury (@mustafafakhoury) October 4, 2017
#سوزان_الحاج_حبيش #not_guilty✊🏻 pic.twitter.com/vpynDpMlUl
— Nissa 🇱🇧 (@nissa_sarkis) October 3, 2017
We Salute u for all the achievements u accomplished Serving this country 🇱🇧
— لما عباس غدار (@LamaGhaddar05) October 3, 2017
#اللايك_بالخطأ_مش_جريمة #سوزان_حبيش ❤ pic.twitter.com/vF5wpYyf7r
Another person said, according to a translation by Al Bawaba, "Despite my political difference with Hobeiche, what has happened to this woman is oppression. She gave the position prestige, rather than vice-versa."
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