General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim : Nusra swap deal finalized
The Daily Star/Jun. 02, 2015
BEIRUT: General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim Monday struck an upbeat note about an imminent swap deal to secure the release of Lebanese soldiers and policemen held hostage by Islamist militants since August last year. “The issue is over. We are waiting for a date to be set by the envoy of Qatar [to implement the deal],” Ibrahim said, referring to a Qatar-appointed envoy who has been negotiating with both the Lebanese government and the Nusra Front over the hostage crisis.
Ibrahim, who has been tasked by the Lebanese government to follow up talks on the hostage ordeal, spoke to reporters at the opening of a regional General Security center in the Kesrouan district of Ghazir to help reduce pressure on other branches caused by the influx of refugees. He did not give further details.
A General Security official said details related to the place and date of the swap deal still need to be determined. “The deal with the Nusra Front is over and I assure you that the swap deal will be in line with Lebanese laws,” the official told The Daily Star, speaking on condition of anonymity. The planned deal involves only the Nusra Front, Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, which is holding 16 captives, while ISIS still has nine soldiers and policemen. The two militant groups have demanded the release of Islamist prisoners held in Lebanon and Syria in exchange for setting free their captives. Ibrahim has maintained an optimistic note over the hostage crisis in the past few weeks, predicting a happy ending to negotiations with the Nusra Front.
“I am confident, if things remain going the way they did one hour before I got here, that we will see success soon,” Ibrahim said during a visit to Notre Dame University in Louaizeh last Friday.
Although there are no negotiations with ISIS on the Lebanese hostages, Ibrahim said there are contacts with the militant group “on which we can build.” The 25 servicemen were kidnapped during fierce clashes between the Lebanese Army and the Nusra Front and ISIS, which briefly overran the northeastern town of Arsal last August. The two militant groups originally kidnapped 37 servicemen, but eight were freed and four executed, two by each group. The hostages are believed to be held on the outskirts of Arsal.
Speaking at the new General Security center in Ghazir, Ibrahim said: “This center will allow citizens to remain in their area and complete their paperwork without the burden of moving all the way to Jounieh’s branch.”He added that the construction of the new facility was part of a development plan that General Security had launched, aimed at opening new centers in Lebanese areas and distributing bureaucratic traffic in light of the increase in refugee inflow. General Security is responsible for all legal matters related to foreigners in Lebanon, including the estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees who have arrived in the country since 2011. “General Security is in the service of citizens and is keeping vigilant,” Ibrahim said. “It is the right of Lebanon and its citizens to live in peace, security and prosperity away from the threats knocking on its door and the strong storms constantly threatening it.”
Military court approves Samaha retrial
The Daily Star/Jun. 02, 2015 |/BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Military Court of Cassation Tuesday approved a request to appeal the verdict issued against former Minister Michel Samaha, who was convicted of attempting to carry out terrorist attacks, a judicial source said. The court scheduled Samaha’s hearing for July 16 after nullifying his sentence, the source added. The appeal, which was filed by Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr last month, challenged the military tribunal’s four-and-a-half-year jail sentence issued against Samaha. Saqr urged the appeals court to nullify the sentence and retry the suspect on all charges brought against him in the initial indictment, some which demanded the death penalty if convicted. The court also rejected an appeal filed by Samaha’s attorney Sakhr al-Hashem last month, calling for a sentence reduction for the pro-Damascus former Lebanese official. Hashem filed the request with the Military Court of Cassation on the basis that the tribunal revoked Samaha’s civil rights, a judicial source told The Daily Star. The drawn-out trial of Samaha drew harsh criticism from politicians, especially members of the Future Movement, who considered the sentence for transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon with the intention of assassinating political and religious figures too lenient. The Future Movement was brusque, calling the verdict a “joke,” with Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, who is a member of the group, going so far as to suggest reforming the court.
