Doctor Food to be freed under Lebanon amnesty law

A Lebanese judicial source told AFP on October 15 that Georges Dib, the TikTok creator known as "Doctor Food", is to be released after drug charges against him were dropped under a new amnesty law.

The judicial source said the judiciary had decided to drop the charges in the drug case for which Dib was recently arrested because he is covered by the general amnesty law. The judge in the case ordered his immediate release, the source added.

Dib, who has more than eight million followers and also owns confectionery businesses, was arrested in August after being sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in March. State-run media had reported that he had been the subject of an arrest warrant two years earlier for "manufacturing narcotics, trafficking and smuggling abroad".

Lebanon's parliament passed the sweeping amnesty law on August 12. It covers drug offences among various other crimes and was the country's first amnesty law since 1991.

Before his arrest at his home in northern Lebanon, Dib had continued posting on TikTok, saying he was innocent and urging followers not to listen to what was being said about him. He first became known with his former wife, known as Shorouk, by posting content about cooking and daily life. They separated after she accused him of abuse.