Samaha Said he Sought to 'Create a Shock' and Knew about Informer
Former Information Minister Michel Samaha, who was indicted in bombing attack plots on political and religious figures in Lebanon, has said he “wanted to create a shock.”
On Wednesday, Military Examining Magistrate Riyad Abu Ghida indicted Samaha, who was arrested in August, and Syrian security official Brig. Gen. Ali Mamlouk on terrorism charges and called for the death sentence.
Abu Ghida said Samaha and Mamlouk should be given the ultimate punishment "for transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon in an attempt to assassinate Lebanese political and religious leaders.”
The judge also issued a warrant to uncover the full identity of a second Syrian official, identified as Col. Adnan, implicated in smuggling the explosives to Lebanon.
The indictment said Samaha told the Syrian colonel and general that he would recruit people to carry out attacks in the northern Akkar region targeting Syrian rebels and weapons smugglers to Syria.
It said Mamlouk told Samaha that "hindering weapons smuggling into Syria and carrying out attacks against Syrian gunmen and smugglers is good for the Syrian regime."
After coordinating with the informer Milad Kfouri, Samaha was given large quantities of explosives by Adnan and Mamlouk and transported them in his personal car to Beirut, said the 65-page indictment.
But Samaha knew that Kfouri was an informer.
Asked by investigators why he went ahead with the transfer of explosives as long as he knew that Kfouri would implicate him, Samaha said: “I wanted to create a shock to stop the security chaos in the area of Akkar and to take serious measures on the border to end the interference in what's happening in Syria.”
“I did it for Lebanon. I have always been a negotiator and a mediator to bring viewpoints closer and I have never been involved in any security incident before,” he said.
Samaha is also accused of "inciting sectarian strife.”
An arrest warrant for Mamlouk was issued on February 4.
Samaha's lawyer, Sakhr al-Hashem told An Nahar daily, that he and his client respected the indictment.
But he stressed that he would submit documents during the trial that contradict some parts of the indictment.
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