Jihad Salameh, Lebanese Fencing Federation v. Boutros Jalkh, Mazen Ramadam, Jack Tamer, Sami Kiblawi, Tanios Hnein, Hassan Rustom, Khoder Moukaled, Roukoz Zgheib, Pierre Hani, Mazen Kobeissi, Wassim Ismail, Zafer Kabbara, Bachir Bechara, Fadi Bou Nader, L

At a glance

Parties

Jihad Salameh and the Lebanese Fencing Federation v. Dr. Boutros Jalkh and thirteen other members of the Executive Committee of the Lebanese Olympic Committee, and the Lebanese Olympic Committee (LOC)

Case no.

CAS 2025/A/11499

Forum and rules

Court of Arbitration for Sport, appeals arbitration under the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (2023 edition)

Treaty

Article 8-3 of the LOC Statutes; Article 23 of the Statutes and Procedural Rules of the Lebanese Sports Arbitration Center (LSAC)

Tribunal

Jacques Radoux (President), Luigi Fumagalli, Benoît Pasquier

Sector

Fencing; sports governance; Olympic committee elections

Outcome

CAS took jurisdiction and held the appeal admissible except for requests for relief (i), (iv) and (v). It dismissed the rest of the appeal and found the LOC Extraordinary General Assembly of 16 May 2025 and its decisions valid (award of 20 March 2026).

Amount

No monetary claim. The Appellants sought a contribution of no less than CHF 10,000 towards their costs. The Respondents sought at least CHF 30,000. The costs rulings (operative ¶¶ 4–5) are redacted in the published award.

The dispute

Jihad Salameh, President of the Lebanese Fencing Federation (LFF), and the LFF challenged the election of a new Executive Committee of the Lebanese Olympic Committee at an Extraordinary General Assembly held on 16 May 2025. That assembly was convened by the LOC's Urgent Matters Committee, which had also suspended the Lebanese Sports Arbitration Center (LSAC), the LOC's internal arbitral body, pending reform. Before the assembly, an LSAC sole arbitrator had suspended and then annulled the convocations. A rival assembly held on 14 May 2025 elected Mr Salameh. The LFF filed a request with the LSAC on 26 May 2025 to annul the 16 May assembly. When the LSAC did not act, the Appellants appealed to CAS against this inaction as a denial of justice and asked CAS to declare the 16 May and 22 April 2025 assemblies void and the 14 May committee the only legitimate one. The Respondents objected that internal remedies had not been exhausted and that there was no appealable decision, contested Mr Salameh's standing, and defended the validity of the 16 May assembly under the LOC Statutes and the Olympic Charter.

Key holdings

1. CAS has jurisdiction under Article 8-3 of the LOC Statutes and Article 23 of the LSAC Rules. Exhaustion of internal remedies is a question of admissibility, not jurisdiction. Whether there was a denial of justice goes to the merits. ¶¶ 90–95
2. The appeal is timely and admissible. The LSAC had been at least de facto suspended since February 2025, so the internal remedy was not "readily and effectively available" and gave no access to a "definite procedure". Requiring the Appellants to send formal reminders to the LSAC would be excessive formalism. ¶¶ 98, 103–105
3. The scope of the appeal is limited to the dispute before the LSAC, which concerned only the 16 May 2025 assembly. Requests (i), (iv) and (v) are inadmissible insofar as they concern the 22 April 2025 assembly and the 14 May 2025 meeting. ¶¶ 117–120
4. Mr Salameh lacks standing to sue. He was not a party to the LSAC request, which the LFF alone filed. At most he was indirectly affected, and no rule gave him a right of appeal. ¶¶ 125–129
5. The Urgent Matters Committee was validly constituted and could act while the Executive Committee lacked a quorum. The 2 April 2025 convocation was valid under Article 6-3(2) of the LOC Statutes without the Secretary General's signature. Because the LSAC was already suspended on 14 April 2025, it could not validly suspend the convocations. Its 9 May 2025 annulment of the 22 April assembly also breached ne ultra petita. The 22 April decisions, including the admission of four new federations, are therefore final. ¶¶ 131–143
6. The 16 May 2025 assembly and its decisions are valid. LOC membership and voting rights do not depend on recognition by the Lebanese Ministry of Youth and Sports. The Swimming Federation's Stabilization Committee could vote. The Boxing Federation could not be counted, but the quorum was still met with 17 of 31 voting members present. The budgetary objections were ineffective because the assembly was purely elective. ¶¶ 145–155
7. Request (iii), to declare void all acts of the Executive Committee elected on 16 May 2025, is declaratory. No special legal interest was shown, and the request in any event shares the fate of request (ii). It is dismissed. ¶¶ 156–158

Procedural history

1. 24 February 2025The Urgent Matters Committee reaffirms the suspension of the LSAC and decides to convene Extraordinary General Assemblies on 22 April and 16 May 2025.
2. 14 April 2025The LFF files a request for arbitration with the LSAC against the convocations.
3. 16 April 2025The LSAC sole arbitrator issues an interim award suspending the convocation of the 22 April 2025 assembly.
4. 9 May 2025LSAC final award: the 22 April 2025 assembly and both convocations are declared null and void.
5. 14–16 May 2025A rival assembly on 14 May elects an Executive Committee with Mr Salameh as President. The LOC assembly on 16 May elects the Respondent members of the Executive Committee.
6. 26 May 2025The LFF files an "appeal" with the LSAC against the 16 May 2025 assembly.
7. 6 June 2025Statement of Appeal filed with CAS against the LSAC's inaction.
8. 21 July 2025Panel constituted. On 13 August 2025 it dismisses the request for provisional measures.
9. 5 November 2025Hearing by videoconference.
10. 20 March 2026Award: appeal partly inadmissible and otherwise dismissed.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

• Jacques Radoux President
• Luigi Fumagalli Co-arbitrator — appointed by the claimant
• Benoît Pasquier Co-arbitrator — appointed by the respondent (nominated after the appointment of Diego Ferrari was not confirmed)

For the claimant

Toni Garcia

For the respondent

Jonáš Gürtler · Emanuel Cortada

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Keywords

• denial of justice
• exhaustion of internal remedies
• principle of celerity
• standing to sue
• declaratory relief
• ne ultra petita
• res judicata
• scope of appeal
• Article R47 CAS Code
• Lebanese Sports Arbitration Center
• Urgent Matters Committee
• national Olympic committee elections
• general assembly quorum
• Olympic Charter
• sports governance
• fencing
• Lebanon

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.