Leaked video of Samaha adds insult to injury for Lebanese
Clip shows ex-minister telling interrogators he personally went to Syria to get explosives meant for terrorist operations
Although Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam demanded a speedy retrial for former information minister Michel Samaha, given the “delicate” nature of the case, most Lebanese television viewers were literally shocked on Sunday evening when a leaked video was aired that showed the convict testifying to interrogators that he went to Damascus to specifically bring back various explosives to be used in terrorist operations.
“I went Monday to Damascus and I met with Adnan and he told me that they (the explosives) would be ready the next day,” Samaha confides to the interrogators in the latest leaked video.
Samaha and his personal driver at the time, Fares Barakat, apparently drove another car to the Syrian capital, allowed the Syrian security agent, Adnan, to take the car to an unknown destination, where it was loaded with the explosives and other materials used in bombs, before Samaha returned in it to Beirut.
Samaha was released last Thursday by the country’s controversial military tribunal on a $100,000 (Dh367,240) bail pending a retrial.
Only backers
Except for Hezbollah deputies who defended his release, most politicians condemned the decision. Former prime minister and head of the Future Party, Fouad Siniora, said the military court’s ruling was an “insult to the Lebanese people”.
Even former general security chief Major General Jamil Al Syed, a die-hard pro-Syrian operative, announced the end of his friendship with Samaha on the basis of a putative “ethical duty”.
It is difficult to determine what would happen next as the political hoopla, which was best summarised by Siniora when he said that “the Lebanese people will not accept a new phase of foreign hegemony and will reject a military court that pardons traitors,” will now need to be translated into concrete reforms.
Reform steps in focus
Will Speaker Nabih Berri, who was livid at Samaha’s release, manage to facilitate the legal permutations in parliament to alter the military court’s jurisdiction? Will Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi, who promised to expedite judicial transformations, persuade political elites to allow the process to move forward? Will Hezbollah tolerate such changes? Few have any answers to these questions.
Samaha’s case was investigated confidentially and the five military judges exercised “national security” prerogatives to carry out the trials, which violated the principles of a fair and public trial, especially when the individual involved confessed to his crimes.