Lebanon: Beirutis protest as military tribunal for Israeli agent kicks off

W/S Protesters in front of Military Tribunal, Beirut
W/S Military Tribunal
M/S Military Tribunal
M/S Protesters
C/U Protester holding sign
C/U Protester holding sign
M/S Protesters holding signs
M/S Protesters holding signs
C/U Protester
C/U Former detainee Kefah Afifi
SOT, Kefah Afifi, former detainee (Arabic): "We, as prisoners and detainees, reject the American lawyer entering the Lebanese judiciary to defend the Mossad-American agent. I think this is the biggest Israeli plot to be implemented inside Lebanon. This means that there is normalisation with the Zionist enemy if the American lawyer defends him."
M/S Protesters chanting
C/U Protesters chanting
SOT, Hilal Alsaman, former detainee (Arabic): "Amer al-Fakhoury has a clear and explicit link to Israeli and American intelligence. Amer al-Fakhoury did not come to Lebanon to sit at home. He has a history of betrayal. He is here with an American-Israeli project to revive dormant intelligence in Lebanon."
C/U Pictures *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Ahmad Karim, former detainee (Arabic): "For any Lebanese citizen who dealt with the Israeli occupation and fled to Palestine and obtained Israeli citizenship, we must have a law in the Lebanese state to revoke Lebanese citizenship and push for the death penalty."
M/S Protesters *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Lawyer of former detainee Maan Alasaad (Arabic): "There was no person associated with the US Embassy or the United States in the court, outside they were present and tried to enter but the military court was at the peak of neutrality and independence."
C/U Lawyer of former detainee Maan Alasaad *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Lawyer of former detainee Maan Alasaad (Arabic): "He will not be released from here and there is no way to settle his situation."
W/S Lebanese flag
M/S Soldier
M/S Soldiers
SCRIPT
Dozens of people gathered outside the Military Tribunal in Beirut on Tuesday, to protest against alleged light sentences against agents of Israeli intelligence services, as authorities began the hearing of former pro-Israel South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia member Amer Elias al-Fakhoury.
Protesters included former detainees of the SLA-run Khiam detention camp, of which Fakhoury was a senior warden. Former inmates have accused Fakhoury of ordering the torture of thousands of detainees held there.
"Amer al-Fakhoury did not come to Lebanon to sit at home. He has a history of betrayal. He is here with an American-Israeli project to revive dormant intelligence in Lebanon," said former Khiam detainee Hilal Alsaman.
"We must have a law in the Lebanese state to revoke Lebanese citizenship and push for the death penalty" for those who collaborated with Israel during the occupation, said former inmate Ahmad Karim.
During the 16 years of the Khiam prison - between 1984 and 2000, when Israel withdrew from south Lebanon - some 5,000 prisoners were reportedly detained within its walls, with several people believed to have been killed under torture. The prison's detainees were released in May 2000 when hundreds of local residents stormed the premises and liberated them.
Fakhoury was arrested in Beirut on Thursday after returning to Lebanon a week before, reportedly using a US passport. He had left the country in 2000, reportedly fleeing to the United States and acquiring a US passport.