A court in Lebanon has sentenced a popular food blogger known as "Dr. Food" to life in prison for smuggling a large amount of drugs. The blogger, Georges Hanna Dib, was convicted of making, selling, and smuggling 820 kilograms of hashish (a drug made from the cannabis plant) hidden inside cake packaging. Judge Elie al-Helou issued the sentence, which also included a fine of 120 million Lebanese pounds (about $1,341) and the loss of Dib's civil rights, meaning he can no longer vote or hold public office. L'Orient-Le Jour

Dib was sentenced in absentia, which means he was not present in court and is believed to have left Lebanon. Several Lebanese and Syrian nationals were sentenced alongside him under Lebanon's Narcotics Law, which covers the making of illegal drugs. Everyone sentenced in absentia lost their civil rights. Al Jazeera

The drugs, 820kg (1,800 pounds) of hashish, were produced in Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, an area known for growing cannabis for decades. The drugs were stored in a warehouse near Beirut, then transported to Turkiye and shipped to other countries. Hiding the drugs inside cake packaging fit Dib's public image as a food content creator. Al Jazeera

A judge had recommended a life sentence for Dib back in February 2025, so the final sentencing came after about 17 months of legal proceedings. The case moved through Lebanon's Narcotics Law, which treats the making of illegal drugs as a crime carrying the harshest penalties. Al Jazeera

The Al Jazeera report says its information comes from "reports" without naming a specific court or official announcement. L'Orient-Le Jour, publishing three days earlier on July 16, identifies the Mount Lebanon Criminal Court as the authority that issued the sentence. This difference in detail matters for anyone following the case through news reports rather than official court records.

The fine of 120 million Lebanese pounds sounds huge, but it is only about $1,341 at current exchange rates. That is because the Lebanese pound has lost almost all its value since the country's economy collapsed in 2019. So a life sentence paired with a fine under $1,500 shows how far the currency has fallen.

Baalbek, where the drugs were made, sits in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, an area where cannabis has been grown for decades despite repeated government efforts to wipe it out. The route through Turkiye follows a well-known path that drug traffickers use to move narcotics from Lebanon to European markets.

Sentencing someone in absentia is a normal part of Lebanese criminal law. It lets courts move forward with trials and issue punishments when defendants do not show up. However, those convicted this way keep the right to a new trial if they later turn themselves in, which means the life sentence is active but could change.

The broader context here is that Lebanon is struggling to enforce drug laws while its institutions are weakened by political crisis and economic collapse. The country's courts have kept running through years of paralysis and disruption, though with delays and backlogs. The Narcotics Law used to sentence Dib and his co-defendants carries some of the toughest penalties in Lebanese law, including hard labour, though how that punishment is actually carried out in Lebanese prisons is widely questioned.

Using a social media star's food brand to cover a large drug operation raises questions about how influencer culture and organized crime might overlap, well beyond this one case. The scale of 820kg of hashish is a major shipment by any measure, and the international shipping route suggests a level of planning and coordination that one person alone would be unlikely to manage. However, the court's sentencing focused on Dib and his named co-defendants rather than detailing the wider network.