Lebanese ex-minister Michel Samaha to be retried over Syria plot Reuters, Beirut/Monday, 18 May 2015
A Lebanese judge ordered a retrial of a former minister on Monday who was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison last week for smuggling explosives into Lebanon from Syria and planning terrorist attacks. The sentencing of Michel Samaha, who is close to the Syrian government, drew harsh criticism from Lebanese politicians and members of the public who considered his punishment too lenient. Samaha has been in detention since August 2012 and his case has gripped Lebanon because such action against Damascus or its Lebanese allies was once unthinkable. He was sentenced on Wednesday by a military court after confessing last month to the charges and giving details of the plot allegedly devised with Syria’s security chief, Ali Mamlouk. The arrest of Samaha and indictments against two Syrian officials, one a top general, in the case, marked a major break with the past. Top Syrian officials have previously denied the charges but have not commented on the verdict. Samaha’s trial reflects how the crisis in Syria is rippling through a country where Damascus has played a major role for decades and whose future will be shaped by the outcome of the four-year conflict next door.
Rifi Reveals Plans for STL to Study Samaha Case
Naharnet/18.05.15
Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi has revealed that he was working on transferring the terrorism case of former Information Minister Michel Samaha to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Rifi told al-Mustaqbal newspaper published on Monday that “there is a tendency to transfer part” of the file linked to the explosives, which Samaha had transferred to Lebanon to the STL in the Hague. The other part linked to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s alleged involvement in the case could be transferred to the International Criminal Court, he said. Last week, the military court sentenced Samaha to four-and-a-half years in jail over terrorism charges, including the time he served since August 2012. The tribunal’s verdict against Samaha drew the ire of the March 14 alliance in particular the Mustaqbal Movement that described the sentence as a “joke.” Rifi promised to submit a draft-law to the cabinet to dissolve the tribunal after a video was broadcast showing the former minister discussing with undercover police informant Milad Kfouri plans to carry out explosions in Lebanon. The video was an indication that Assad was aware of the plot, Rifi told al-Mustaqbal. “This is an additional documented evidence on Assad’s role in crimes other than the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,” he said. Along with Samaha, the head of Syria’s powerful National Security Council, Brig. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, and a Syrian aide were also indicted in the case. Their case was separated from Samaha’s because they could not be brought to the court.
Berri Stays Mum on Verdict against Samaha
Naharnet /18.05.15
Speaker Nabih Berri refused to comment on the Military Tribunal’s sentence against former Minister Michel Samaha, stressing that Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah didn’t inform him yet about his presidential initiative. “I don’t comment on the verdicts issued by the judiciary… I abide by this principle since I was a justice minister… to preserve the work of the judiciary and respect it,” Berri said in remarks published in local newspapers on Monday. The tribunal’s verdict against Samaha drew the ire of the March 14 alliance, in particular the Mustaqbal Movement that described the sentence as a “joke.”Samaha was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail over terrorism charges, including the time he served since August 2012. The judicial year amounts to nine months.
The speaker stressed that Nasrallah hasn’t informed him yet about the presidential initiative that he is mulling. “I don’t know it’s context,” Berri said. Nasrallah said on Saturday in a televised speech that his ally Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun is trying to propose solutions for the crisis, calling on political parties to discuss them and study them. “No one has an interest in having a vacuum,” he said. Lebanon has been without a president since May last year when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the election. Hizbullah’s Loyalty to the Resistance and Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc have been boycotting the electoral sessions over the sharp differences.
