BEIRUT: A decision on Monday by Lebanon’s military court to drop charges against a former Israeli agent accused over prison torture has prompted criticism of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Hezbollah.
The tribunal acquitted Amer Al-Fakhoury on charges relating to the kidnap, arrest and torture of Lebanese citizens at Khiam prison during Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon.
The hearing, headed by Brig. Hussein Abdullah, ordered the release of Al-Fakhoury on the grounds that more than a decade had passed since the offences were alleged to have taken place.
However, following public pressure, the government’s commissioner to the Military Court of Appeal, Judge Ghassan El-Khoury, on Tuesday asked the Military Court of Appeals to overturn the tribunal’s ruling and issue a warrant for Al-Fakhoury’s arrest so that he could be put on trial again.
Al-Fakhoury had been accused of “kidnapping, arresting and torturing Lebanese citizens inside the Khiam prison, which led to the death of two prisoners in 1998.” But the military tribunal ruled that “he should be released immediately unless he is arrested in another case.”
The Lebanese General Security arrested Al-Fakhoury in mid-September 2019 and in a statement described him as “a former commander of Khiam prison” who had confessed “to dealing with the Israeli enemy and working for it. After escaping in 2000 to occupied Palestine, he obtained an Israeli ID and an Israeli passport that he used to leave the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Al-Fakhouri moved to the US where he lived with his family and was arrested during a visit to Beirut after a member of the General Security recognized his name. He has spent the last few months of his arrest in hospital for health reasons.
Despite the world’s preoccupation with the coronavirus outbreak, the verdict sparked strong reactions on social media.
Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt tweeted: “At the height of the health and economic crisis, the devil’s advocate at the center of decision, which has dual loyalties, finds the appropriate fatwa for the release of agent Amer Al-Fakhoury.
“What is the benefit of all judicial formations and talk about the independence of the judiciary? It’s the poison potion for the presidency.”
Lebanese MP Roula Al-Tabash, a lawyer and member of the Future bloc, said: “A legal problem that has been overlooked relates to calculating the passage of time and another to continuous crime. The suspicion of the timing of the verdict under the shadow of public quarantine in the country and the suspicion of a presidential ambition are behind what happened.
“Nothing that happens in the military tribunal passes without the consent of the guardian. Is there anyone who can answer these questions?”
Former minister, Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, said that Al-Fakhoury “was released with a cover from Hezbollah, so stop lying. Today, the formula ‘Be with Hezbollah and do whatever you want’ appears to be in force and it is a scandal.”
Hezbollah’s group of lawyers said in a statement that the verdict was “a black day in the history of Lebanese justice and the Lebanese judiciary.” The statement called on MPs to amend the penal law and the Code of Criminal Procedure to prevent any repetition of such verdicts.
The leader of the FPM Gebran Bassil denied any role in the court’s decision. He also rejected any links to an alleged pledge he made to the US during his time as Lebanon’s foreign minister, to release Al-Fakhoury because he was an American citizen.
Bassil’s office stressed that he “does not know Al-Fakhoury and has no relation whatsoever with him.”
