Lebanon ex-minister jailed for 13 years on 'terror' charges

BEIRUT — A Lebanese military court sentenced former information minister Michel Samaha Friday to 13 years in prison with hard labour for attempting to commit "terrorist acts", a judicial source told AFP.

Samaha, 68, was convicted of transporting explosives to carry out attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon with the help of Syrian security services.

The ex-minister was arrested in 2012 and sentenced in May 2015 to four-and-a-half years in prison, but that conviction was quashed a month later and a retrial ordered.

"The prosecution asked for the death penalty but he was sentenced to 13 years with hard labour," the judicial source said.

But Samaha will actually serve a sentence of less than seven years.

Lebanon's "judicial year" is equivalent to just nine months, and Samaha has already served nearly three years following his initial sentencing.

He was also stripped of his right to vote or stand as a candidate for public office, the source said.

The sum of $170,000 that was found on his person when he was arrested has been given to the Lebanese armed forces, the source added.

Samaha, a Christian politician and former adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad, was information minister from 1992 to 1995. 

He admitted during his previous trial that he had transported explosives from Syria for use in attacks in Lebanon with the help of Damascus's security services chief Ali Mamluk.

Samaha has argued that he should be acquitted because he was a victim of entrapment.

In court on Thursday, he repeated his claim that he was "a victim of the security apparatus, who tried to trap me and undermine my reputation and political achievements".

Samaha's family and his lawyers were not reachable for comment on Friday.

The fresh sentencing in the controversial case was hailed by Lebanese political figures opposed to Damascus.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri — Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslim politician, whose ex-premier father Rafiq was assassinated in a 2005 truck bombing in Beirut — welcomed the new verdict using Twitter.

"The terrorist Samaha will return today to prison, which is the right place for anyone that plans to kill innocents and drag Lebanon into sectarian strife and civil war," Hariri said.

Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said the sentence was "a slap in the face for the terrorist, criminal regime in Damascus".

And Ashraf Rifi, who recently resigned as Lebanon's justice minister, said the verdict "was cause for celebration".

"The agent of Bashar Assad and Ali Mamluk will return to prison. It's our duty and yours to press for full justice," Rifi said in a statement.

Syria maintained a nearly 30-year presence in Lebanon during and after the 1975-90 civil war, finally withdrawing its troops in the face of the mass protests that followed Hariri's 2005 murder.

The assassination was widely blamed on Shiite militant group Hizbollah and its supporters in Damascus and Tehran, and five Lebanese individuals with ties to Hezbollah have been charged in an international tribunal.

A series of killings of prominent Lebanese opponents of the Damascus regime, including journalists, security figures and politicians, followed the Syrian army's withdrawal.