BEIRUT: A Lebanese military judge Tuesday appealed a verdict by the military tribunal that ordered the release of a Lebanese-American held since September on charges of working for an Israeli-backed militia two decades ago, state-run National News Agency said.
Judge Ghassan Khoury asked the Military Court of Appeals to strike down an earlier ruling in favor of Amer Fakhoury and issue an arrest warrant against him. He asked that Fakhoury be put on trial again on charges of kidnapping, torturing and detaining Lebanese citizens as well as “killing and attempting to kill others,” according to NNA.
On Monday, Fakhoury was ordered released because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by the so-called South Lebanon Army militia.
Some local media reported that Fakhoury was released but there was no official confirmation.
Fakhoury, 57, is a former SLA member who became a US citizen last year, and is now a restaurant owner in Dover, New Hampshire. His case has been closely followed in his home state of New Hampshire, where US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and other officials have called for imposing sanctions on Lebanon to pressure Beirut to release him.
Tuesday’s appeal came after an outcry in Lebanon over the verdict that ordered him released, including harsh criticism from by the powerful Hezbollah group that said the verdict to release Fakhoury came after “American pressures and threats.”
“This is a sad day for Lebanon and justice,” Hezbollah said in a statement adding that the reputation of Lebanon’s judiciary was at stake.
Riots also broke out in one of the country’s main prisons by detainees who demanded to be freed following the verdict against Fakhoury.
Fakhoury has not been attending questioning sessions in Lebanon over the past few months after being hospitalized with stage 4 lymphoma cancer.
Over the weekend, the Fakhoury family placed a sign on their restaurant’s door saying they anticipate reopening by early or mid-April, Seacoastonline.com reported.
Fakhoury has been jailed since Sept. 12 after returning to Lebanon on vacation to visit family. Lebanon’s intelligence service said he confessed during questioning to being a warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by the SLA during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
Human rights groups have described the prison as a center for torture.
Fakhoury’s family and lawyer, however, say he had no direct contact with inmates and was never involved in any interrogation or torture.
Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. Lebanon bans its citizens from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis.
Fakhoury’s lawyer and family say he fled Lebanon in 2001 through Israel and eventually to the United States because of death threats he and many other SLA members received after Israel ended its occupation of Lebanon in 2000.
In February, Fakhoury was charged by a military judge with the murder and torture of inmates at Khiam Prison.
Hundreds of former Lebanese members of the SLA militia had fled to Israel, fearing reprisals if they remained in Lebanon. Others stayed and faced trial, receiving lenient sentences.
Lebanese judge orders retrial of Lebanese-American
https://arab.news/mwnvd
Lebanese judge orders retrial of Lebanese-American
Muslims who voted for Trump upset by his pro-Israel cabinet picks
Hassan Abdel Salam, a former professor at the University of Minnesota said Trump’s staffing plans were not surprising, but had proven even more extreme that he had feared
WASHINGTON: US Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump to protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon have been deeply disappointed by his Cabinet picks, they tell Reuters.
“Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his Secretary of State pick and others,” said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump.
Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other swing state wins, strategists believe.
Trump picked Republican senator Marco Rubio, a staunch supporter of Israel for Secretary of State. Rubio said earlier this year he would not call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and that he believed Israel should destroy “every element” of Hamas. “These people are vicious animals,” he added.
Trump also nominated Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and staunch pro-Israel conservative who backs Israeli occupation of the West Bank and has called a two state solution in Palestine “unworkable,” as the next ambassador to Israel.
He has picked Republican Representative Elize Stefanik, who called the UN a “cesspool of antisemitism” for its condemnation of deaths in Gaza, to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations.
Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), said Muslim voters had hoped Trump would choose Cabinet officials who work toward peace, and there was no sign of that.
“We are very disappointed,” he said. “It seems like this administration has been packed entirely with neoconservatives and extremely pro-Israel, pro-war people, which is a failure on the on the side of President Trump, to the pro-peace and anti-war movement.”
Nazarko said the community would continue pressing to make its voices heard after rallying votes to help Trump win. “At least we’re on the map.”
Hassan Abdel Salam, a former professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and co-founder of the Abandon Harris campaign, which endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein, said Trump’s staffing plans were not surprising, but had proven even more extreme that he had feared.
“It’s like he’s going on Zionist overdrive,” he said. “We were always extremely skeptical...Obviously we’re still waiting to see where the administration will go, but it does look like our community has been played.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Several Muslim and Arab supporters of Trump said they hoped Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, would play a key role after he led months of outreach to Muslim and Arab American communities, and was even introduced as a potential next secretary of state at events.
Another key Trump ally, Massad Boulos, the Lebanese father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders.
Both promised Arab American and Muslim voters that Trump was a candidate for peace who would act swiftly to end the wars in the Middle East and beyond. Neither was immediately reachable.
Trump made several visits to cities with large Arab American and Muslim populations, include a stop in Dearborn, a majority Arab city, where he said he loved Muslims, and Pittsburgh, where he called Muslims for Trump “a beautiful movement. They want peace. They want stability.”
Rola Makki, the Lebanese American, Muslim vice chair for outreach of the Michigan Republican Party, shrugged off the criticism.
“I don’t think everyone’s going to be happy with every appointment Trump makes, but the outcome is what matters,” she said. “I do know that Trump wants peace, and what people need to realize is that there’s 50,000 dead Palestinians and 3,000 dead Lebanese, and that’s happened during the current administration.”
What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant
- Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat
Author: Audrey Borowski
Described by Voltaire as “perhaps a man of the most universal learning in Europe,” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) is often portrayed as a rationalist and philosopher who was wholly detached from the worldly concerns of his fellow men. Leibniz in His World provides a groundbreaking reassessment of Leibniz, telling the story of his trials and tribulations as an aspiring scientist and courtier navigating the learned and courtly circles of early modern Europe and the Republic of Letters.
Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat and in Germany at the court of Duke Johann Friedrich of Hanover. She challenges the image of Leibniz as an isolated genius, revealing instead a man of multiple identities whose thought was shaped by a deep engagement with the social and intellectual milieus of his time. Borowski shows us Leibniz as he was known to his contemporaries, enabling us to rediscover him as an enigmatic young man who was complex and all too human.
Trump promises to end wars with a ‘strong military’
- “We’re going to work on the Middle East and we’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s got to stop,” Trump added
PALM BEACH, United States: US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday promised a “strong military,” as he repeated his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump, who campaigned on an “America First” foreign policy, has said previously that he wanted to strike a deal between Kyiv and Moscow, without giving details, and end bloodshed in the Middle East.
“We have to get back to a great country with low taxes and a strong military. We’re going to fix our military, we did once and now we’re going to have to do it again,” he said Thursday at a gala organized by the America First Policy Institute at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
“We’re going to work on the Middle East and we’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s got to stop,” Trump added.
He also criticized the “big chunk” of US spending on Afghanistan, from where American troops withdrew in 2021 after two decades of fighting an insurgency by the Taliban, which returned to power that year.
Trump’s re-election has the potential to upend the almost three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, throwing into question Washington’s multibillion-dollar support for Kyiv, which is crucial to its defense.
The Republican said on the campaign trail that he could end the fighting within hours and has indicated he would talk directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump has not said how he intends to strike a peace deal on Ukraine or what terms he would propose.
Green Falcons arrive in Jakarta for World Cup Asian qualifier against Indonesia
- Saudi national football team to hold closed training session before facing hosts on Nov. 19
JAKARTA: The Saudi national football team will train behind closed doors in Jakarta on Saturday in preparation for their 2026 World Cup Asian qualifier match against Indonesia next Tuesday.
The Green Falcons arrived in the Indonesian capital on Friday and are scheduled to face off against the hosts on Nov. 19 at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, as part of the sixth round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The national team delegation was welcomed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport by the Saudi Ambassador Faisal bin Abdullah Al-Amoudi.
Yasser Al-Misehal, president of the Saudi Arabia Football Federation, expressed his appreciation to the embassy for the warm reception and the facilities provided to the team following their arrival from Melbourne.
The Green Falcons will hold a closed training session on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Gelora Jakarta Stadium.
Pakistan’s army chief flags non-state actors, disinformation as threats to global peace
- General Asim Munir says Pakistan expects Kabul not to allow its soil to be used for militancy
- He says absence of regulation over freedom of expression is deteriorating moral values
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir on Friday identified violent non-state actors and the spread of disinformation as significant challenges to global peace while addressing a gathering in the federal capital, where he reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to promoting international stability.
The army chief made the remarks during a special session of the Margalla Dialogue, an annual conference that convenes policymakers, scholars and experts to discuss critical national, regional and global issues, where he highlighted Pakistan’s role in fostering global peace.
Organized by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), a local think tank, the conference provided a platform for the army chief to emphasize Pakistan’s contributions and express concerns about the issue of cross-border militancy.
“Terrorism by violent non-state actors and state-sponsored entities remains a significant global challenge,” the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported him as saying.
“We expect the Afghan interim government to ensure that Afghan soil is not used for terrorism against Pakistan and to take strict measures in this regard,” he added.
The army chief’s statement comes against the backdrop of a surge in militant violence in Pakistan’s western provinces bordering Afghanistan.
Officials in Islamabad have frequently accused Afghan authorities of “facilitating” cross-border attacks by armed factions, such as the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which target civilians and security personnel— an allegation Kabul denies.
APP reported the army chief stated that Pakistan would not become part of any global conflict and would continue to play its role in promoting international peace and stability.
General Munir acknowledged the role of technology in disseminating information, though he cautioned that it also facilitated the rapid spread of disinformation.
He asserted that without comprehensive laws and regulations, disinformation and hate speech could destabilize political and social structures.
“Absence of proper regulations for freedom of expression is leading to the deterioration of moral values in societies worldwide,” he added.
The army chief expressed optimism about the country’s future, noting that about 63 percent of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 30, adding that the country was endowed with immense natural resources and had emerged as a major global agricultural producer.
He highlighted Pakistan’s significant role in the global freelancing industry and noted that its geographical location and seaports could position it as a vital trade hub for countries around the world.
