2023-04-19 23:16:53
“Military” sentences, including the death penalty, for those accused of clashes with “Hezbollah”
Criticism described it as “customary” because the opponent is “the judge and the executioner.”
Thursday – 29 Ramadan 1444 A.H. – April 20, 2023 A.D. Issue number [
16214]
Beirut: Youssef Diab
The Military Court in Lebanon issued rulings once morest those accused of the events in the Khaldeh region (south of Beirut) that took place between the people of the region and members of “Hezbollah” in 2021, and criminalized those involved in the problem among the clans known as “Arabs of Khaldeh”, which angered the clans that considered that The provisions excluded the other party (Hezbollah), which was also a party to the armed clashes.
Clashes took place on August 21, 2021, between gunmen affiliated with “Hezbollah” and the “Resistance Brigades” in the area inhabited by Arab clans, during the funeral of Ali Shibli, who is affiliated with “Hezbollah”, who was killed in a revenge operation before One day near the area. The clashes resulted in the killing of four members of the “resistance brigades” and the wounding of dozens on both sides.
The sentences, which ranged from execution (judgments in absentia once morest fugitives) and hard labor, were issued following a single session held on Tuesday by the permanent military court in its new body headed by Brigadier General Khalil Jaber, and ended with the issuance of sentences at midnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, following a five-hour deliberation, and a concerned legal source saw With this file, “the speedy issuance of judgments during a single session comes as a result of the failure of the reconciliation between the Arab Khaldeh clans and” Hezbollah “, which was sponsored by the Lebanese army intelligence.” A source close to the clans considered that “the defendants’ defense team was unable to exercise its role freely, as evidenced by the negligence of the memorandums and documents it submitted in the course of the sessions, which included the names and addresses of the militants affiliated with (Hezbollah) who participated in the clashes, as well as audio and video recordings showing their faces and their movements.” On the ground”. The source said, “Instead of this evidence being a gateway to expanding the investigation and summoning those involved from the other side, it was included in the file and all the defense team’s requests were neglected.”
The court ruled the death penalty for the fugitive defendants: Bahjat Al-Asaad, Musa Al-Ali, Muhammad Ghosn, Faisal Al-Shaheen, Askar Al-Shaheen, Zaher Ghosn, Ali Qablan Nofal, Ali Mahmoud Askar and Muhammad Ahmed Nofal, and issued arrest warrants once morest them and put them into effect. A number of defendants were also acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
It issued rulings imposing hard labor for periods ranging between ten years and one and a half years once morest a number of defendants, with fines and stripping them of their civil rights. It also convicted a minor and referred his file to the Public Prosecution Office for depositing it with the Good Reference (Juvenile Court).
On the other hand, the court ruled the innocence of 11 defendants and the release of 6 detainees to be satisfied with the period following they were sentenced to a year and a half.
And a member of the “Follow-up Committee for the Khaldeh Events File,” Sheikh Bilal Al-Manla, considered that “the rulings that were issued are not judicial, but are customary and field rulings, because the opponent in them (Hezbollah) is the judge and the executioner.” He said in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat: “Our principled position is to abide by the laws and we are going to challenge the rulings before the Military Court of Cassation.”
The harsh punishments came beyond all expectations, which caused souls to be charged, and an atmosphere of tension and caution prevailed in the Khaldeh region, in anticipation of movements that the people were preparing for, which necessitated the deployment of Lebanese army units in Khaldeh and the Saadiyat area, in anticipation of any move.
Lawyer Diala Shehadeh, from the defendants’ defense team, described the sentences as “politicized and unfair.” She assured Asharq Al-Awsat that it “came in response to the failure of the reconciliation sponsored by the army command, and that we were lawyers and were not involved in it, neither from near nor from afar.” She said, “These rulings did not achieve justice for the Arabs of Khaldeh, and we will appeal the rulings before the Military Court of Cassation headed by the independent and just judge Jan Azzi, with the exception of the acquittal rulings and the detention period being satisfied.”
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