Lebanese judge orders retrial of dual national accused of working for Israeli-backed militia

A military trial had ordered the release of Amer Fakhoury but he now faces charges of kidnapping, torturing and detaining Lebanese citizens

In this May 2019 file photo provided by Guila Fakhoury, her father Amer Fakhoury, second right, gathers with family members at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire. AP

A Lebanese military judge Tuesday appealed a verdict by the military tribunal that ordered the release of a Lebanese-American held since September on charges of working for an Israeli-backed militia two decades ago, state-run National News Agency said.

On Monday, Mr Fakhoury, 57, was ordered released because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by the so-called South Lebanon Army militia. Headed mostly by Christians, it cooperated with Israel in enforcing its occupation of South Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.

But Judge Ghassan Khoury asked the Military Court of Appeals to strike down that ruling in favour of Amer Fakhoury and issue an arrest warrant against him. He asked that Mr Fakhoury be put on trial again on charges of kidnapping, torturing and detaining Lebanese citizens as well as “killing and attempting to kill others,” according to NNA.

Abbas Kabalan, one of the lawyers representing some of the prison’s former detainees, told The National that the prosecution had 24 hours to appeal after the Military Court’s decision to free Mr Fakhoury.

“The decision is legally sound and it makes perfect sense for the prosecution to appeal the court’s decision,” he said. “It would have been very suspicious had it not.”

However, he said it was there was a “high probability” that Mr Fakhoury might not be in Lebanon anymore or may have been transferred to the American embassy. “There is no definite answer so far [regarding his current whereabouts],” he said.

Several Lebanese political parties and religious leaders expressed their disappointment at the Military Tribunal’s decision on Tuesday.

The strongest reaction came from Hezbollah, whose guerrilla tactics forced Israel's retreat from South Lebanon in 2000.

Calling for the resignation of the head of Beirut’s Military Tribunal, Hezbollah issued a statement accusing the US of putting pressure on the Lebanese judiciary to release Mr Fakhoury despite his “crimes and his bloody and black history.” The Iran-backed group said that it was “a sad day for Lebanon and justice.”

Mr Fakhoury’s imprisonment has been the subject of tense negotiations between Lebanon and the US.

Tony Badran, FDD Research Fellow and Lebanon expert, said: "His overdue release is the result of a bill introduced by Senators Shaheen and Cruz, which called on sanctioning the Lebanese government for taking an American citizen hostage. The Shaheen-Cruz sanctions bill defused a spiraling, indefinite hostage negotiations on the part of the Lebanese authorities on behalf of Hezbollah."

A former high-ranking member of the SLA, Mr Fakhoury became a US citizen last year and is now a restaurant owner in Dover, New Hampshire.

His case has been closely followed in his home state of New Hampshire, where U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and other officials have called for imposing sanctions on Lebanon to pressure Beirut to release him.

Mr Fakhoury has not been attending questioning sessions in Lebanon over the past few months after being hospitalised with stage 4 lymphoma cancer.

Over the weekend, the Fakhoury family placed a sign on their restaurant’s door saying they anticipate reopening by early or mid-April, Seacoastonline.com reported.

Fakhoury has been jailed since September 12 after returning to Lebanon on vacation to visit family.

Lebanon’s intelligence service said he confessed during questioning to being a warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by the SLA during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. Local media quickly dubbed him the “butcher of Khiam”.

According to a 1992 Amnesty International report, detainees were held outside any legal framework and were tortured or ill-treated.

People detained included Lebanese suspected of fighting Israel’s occupation as well as civilians who were imprisoned to pressure relatives.

In an interview with US TV channel Fox News, Mr Fakhoury’s family denied that he was involved in acts of torture, arguing that he had no direct contact with inmates.

Along with thousands of other SLA members who feared reprisals from locals, Mr Fakhoury fled Lebanon in 2000 as Israel retreated from the south of the country.

However, reprisals were minimal, and those who stayed and faced trial received lenient sentences.

Mr Fakhoury transited by Israel with a laissez-passer before settling in the United States, his US lawyer, Celine Atallah, told The National in an interview last October.

In 1996, Lebanon’s Military Court accused Mr Fakhoury of contact with Israel, but charges were dropped in 2018, said Mrs Atallah.

She said that her client, who had received assurances by the Lebanese authorities that he could return safely to his home country, was tortured after his arrest. Charges, which were fabricated, were barred anyway by the statute of limitations, she added.

However, lawyers that defend former Khiam detainees say that Mr Fakhoury should be charged with crimes against humanity for which there is no statute of limitations.

Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. Lebanon bans its citizens from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis.

In a country where collaborating with Israel remains one of the biggest taboos, and anti-Israeli parties such as Hezbollah wield significant power in the government, some politicians have called for his public execution despite a moratorium on the death penalty.