"Butcher of Khiam Detention Center" returns to Lebanon and popular demand for trial

Afif Diab-Beirut

The Military Prosecutor in Lebanon has filed a lawsuit against the former military commander of the famous Khiam detention camp during the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, Amer Elias Fakhoury.

Fakhoury's return to Beirut (September 4, 2019) comes from the United States, where he fled after liberating the south from Israeli occupation in 2000.

Fakhoury spent a while in occupied Palestine and was granted an Israeli passport to leave Tel Aviv for Washington, where he was able to obtain US citizenship later.

Popular anger
Fakhoury's return sparked public outrage and prompted the security and judicial authorities to find out how he entered the country via Beirut airport without being arrested or arrested, especially as he is wanted for dealing with the Israeli enemy and committing war crimes against detainees and prisoners he tortured inside Khiam detention center.

Initial investigations resulted in the arrest of a Lebanese Army Brigadier General on charges of facilitating the passage of Fakhoury, who is currently being questioned by the Lebanese Army.

Informed sources revealed to Al Jazeera Net that Fakhoury had received assurances from Lebanese parties in power to ensure him to return to Beirut without being arrested or tried for his actions.

The sources, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that in Beirut, Fakhoury and a number of Israeli agents were removed from judicial arrest warrants, summaries of absentee sentences and more than 50 others.

She described what happened as a "political and moral scandal", noting that these charges do not fall over time.

Second offense
For his part, said former President of the Bar Chakib Qurtbawi that Fakhoury is involved in a second offense is to hold Israeli citizenship, and that this offense does not fall over time.

According to journalist Hassan Alik, Fakhoury returned to Lebanon in coordination with senior Lebanese officials.

He said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that there are those who withdrew the arrest warrant issued against him by the Lebanese army, pointing out that such a decision can not be made "only from the highest authorities in the Lebanese state."

He stressed that Fakhoury did not come to Lebanon by chance and "came after he took assurances from higher authorities and that he would not be exposed to it."

He believes that dealing with the file of Israeli agents in Lebanon was in a "despicable manner that did not respect national security and its necessities."

"Fakhoury is not an ordinary Israeli agent," Alik said. "He is a dangerous agent and he is considered a first-class agent and therefore does not drop the crimes he committed against the Lebanese, detainees and prisoners in particular."

Butcher tents
Fakhoury, or "butcher of tents," as prisoners and editors of the Khiam detention center, are accused of committing the most heinous torture of detainees opposed to Israeli occupation, captured in resistance operations or detained from their homes.

Freed prisoner Afif Hammoud, who spent 11 years in Khiam detention camp for his involvement in the National Resistance Front against Israeli occupation, says that Fakhoury practiced systematic physical and psychological torture.

Hamoud adds to Al Jazeera Net that all detainees in Khiam since 1987 until 2000 were directly tortured and deliberately killed by agent Fakhoury and his members, demanding that he be tried and inflicted the most severe penalties on him, and that the trial be in the rest of the Khiam detention center.