Protesters Rally near Military Court, Say Samaha Verdict 'Encourages Terrorism'

A number of protesters staged a sit-in Thursday outside the Military Court in Beirut to denounce what they called “the farce of a verdict” that was issued Wednesday against former minister Michel Samaha.

“We call for reconsidering the verdict issued against Michel Samaha because such a verdict encourages terrorism and extremism,” a Mustaqbal movement youth official said at the demo.

Another protester meanwhile called for "amending the jurisdiction of the Military Court to limit it to military personnel."

"We are against trying civilians before the Military Court," he added.

The tribunal sentenced on Wednesday Samaha to four-and-a-half years in jail over terrorism charges. Samaha, arrested in August 2012, would be released at the end of this year taking into account time served and because the judicial year amounts to nine months in Lebanon.

He was found guilty of "having tried to carry out terrorist actions and for belonging to an armed group" and was also stripped of his civic and political rights. The defense team argues that the former minister fell into a trap set by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch.

But the verdict was seen as too soft by many observers and political forces, who took to media outlets and social networking websites to express their dismay over the court's "unjust" ruling.

“The court's verdict in Samaha's case legalizes assassinations and explosions,” Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has warned.

On Thursday, several TV networks aired videos showing Samaha handing ISF informant Milad Kfouri explosives and fuses he had transported in his car from Syria with the aim of staging bombings and assassinating Lebanese officials and religious figures at the behest of Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk.

Samaha's lawyer Rana Azoury said the ex-minister, who was once an adviser to Syria's President Bashar Assad, explained during the April 20 trial session that he had been "harassed" for four months by Kfouri to transport the explosives to be used in blasts on the Lebanese border.

Samaha's trial had been postponed multiple times because of the absence of Ali Mamluk, who remains in Syria, but after a judge separated the cases against the two men, a first trial session began on April 20.

The Lebanese judiciary has issued an arrest warrant for Mamluk and sent Syria a formal notification of the warrant and charges, but received no response.

Y.R.