Karam Released after Two Years in Jail, Confirms Commitment to FPM
Retired Army Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam, who was convicted of collaborating with Israel, was released from jail on Tuesday after the prison year was reduced to nine months.
The National News Agency reported that a white Jeep Infinity transferred Karam from the military police prison in al-Rayhaniyeh near the Defense Ministry.
He then headed to Rabieh where he held talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.
He told al-Jadeed television after the meeting: “I wanted to visit the MP to confirm my commitment to the FPM.”
“I will not change my political affiliations and no one can threaten me with the past,” he stated.
“I have performed my duties in the army and, along with my colleagues, we have sacrificed everything for the sake of Lebanon and all of its sects,” stressed Karam.
He later headed to his hometown of Zgharta where he received a hero's welcome where was greeted with fireworks and residents showering him with rice.
Parliament approved in March the reduction of the prison year to nine months.
In September 2011, the permanent military court had sentenced Karam, 63, to three years in jail.
However, it reduced the sentence to two years with hard labor with his civil and political rights being stripped.
Karam, a senior member of the FPM, was arrested by the Police Intelligence Bureau arrested in August 2010 on suspicion of spying for Israel.
Karam graduated from the military school in 1972 as lieutenant.
He held several leadership positions in the army, including head of the counter-terror and spying bureau.
He remained in his post until the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and his imprisonment in Mazze for five months.
Karam quit the military after then army commander Michel Aoun was exiled to France in 1990.
He returned with him to Lebanon in 2005 when Syria withdrew its troops from the country, ending its 29-year hegemony.
More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for the Israeli Mossad since April 2009, including members of the security forces and telecom employees.
Several have since been sentenced to death, including one found guilty of aiding Israel during its devastating 2006 war with Hizbullah.
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