Lebanon ex minister accused of 'terrorism' granted bail
Date
1/14/2016 12:08:58 PM
Beirut: A Lebanese military tribunal on Thursday ordered the release on bail of a former cabinet minister accused of working with Syria to launch "terrorist" attacks a judicial source told AFP.
Michel Samaha who was information minister from 1992 to 1995 would be released in exchange for a bail payment of 150 million Lebanese pounds ($100000) the source said.
Under his bail conditions Samaha 67 would not be allowed to leave the country for at least a year speak to the press or use social media.
His wife Gladys Samaha told AFP she was raising funds for the payment.
"I hope that he'll be back home today" she said.
Samaha's next court date is set for January 21.
The ex-minister was arrested in August 2012 and charged with attempting to carry out "terrorist acts" over allegations that he and Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk transported explosives and planned attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon.
Samaha was sentenced in May 2015 to four-and-half years in prison but in June Lebanon's Cassation Court nullified the verdict and ordered a retrial.
Samaha a Christian politician and former adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad admitted during his trial that he had transported the explosives from Syria for use in attacks in Lebanon.
But he argued that he should be acquitted because he was a victim of entrapment.
His previous sentence was denounced as "scandalous" by Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi as it would have seen him released at the end of 2015 because of time served.
Syria maintained a nearly 30-year presence in Lebanon withdrawing its troops in 2005 after the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
But a series of assassinations of prominent anti-Syrian regime figures in Lebanon followed the withdrawal.
AFP