Samaha, Mamlouk Charged with Planning Attacks in Lebanon
Government deputy Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Sami Sader charged on Saturday ex-Information Minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security Chief Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk with forming a group to commit crimes in Lebanon.
The two were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures.
A judicial source told Agence France Presse that General Mamlouk is "suspected of forming a group to provoke sectarian killings and terrorist acts using explosives, which were transported and stored by Samaha.”
An arrest warrant was issued against Samaha after evidence, including video footage, proved his involvement in the plot.
According to Voice of Lebanon (100.5) the indictment includes a Syrian Colonel known as Brig. Gen. Adnan.
VDL reported that if the charges were proven then the culprits might be sentenced to hard labor or death.
Sader referred the case to Military Examining Magistrate Judge Riad Abu Ghida who will carry on the investigation with the suspects on Monday.
Earlier, acting General Prosecutor Samir Hammoud said the case was referred to the military prosecutor to take the appropriate legal decision after Samaha was questioned by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch since his arrest at his home in the North Metn town of Jwar al-Khenshara on Thursday morning.
The ex-minister was taken by the ISF from its base in Beirut to the military tribunal on Saturday morning.
According to media reports, Samaha was arrested after a man from the Kfoury family informed the ISF that the former minister had asked to provide him with a group of men to transport explosives to northern Lebanon in return for a sum of money.
After receiving the tip, Kfoury was handed a spy pen camera that exposed Samaha in the weeks before his arrest.
The bomb attacks were reportedly to take place during Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s visit to the northern district of Akkar and to target Iftar banquets attended by important personalities, including Syrian opposition members.
The main objective was to create Sunni-Alawite and Sunni-Christian strife, the reports said.
Al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday quoted Samaha as telling interrogators that he transported the explosives upon orders from President Bashar Assad.
But one of Samaha’s lawyers, Malek al-Sayyed, said ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and Police Intelligence chief col. Wissam al-Hassan should be interrogated on the spread of information to the media.
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