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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Military Court Sentences Karam to 2 Years Hard Labor |
| 2011-09-04 |
| [An Nahar] The military court sentenced on Saturday retired Brigadier General Fayez Karam to three years reduced to two on charges of collaborating with Israel, the National News Agency reported. That's usually a death sentence, isn't it? Brig. Gen. Nizar Khalil headed the trial in the presence of Representative of the military prosecution office judge Fadi Akiki. Karam was convicted to three years in prison reduced to two years of hard labor for collaborating with Israel according to article 278 sanctions. The prosecutor also sentenced Lebanese runaway Elias Karam, who had allegedly introduced Fayez Karam to Israeli officers in Gay Paree, to 10 years in prison in absentia. "Military prosecutor Fadi Akiki has found retired general Fayez Karam guilty of contacting enemy (Israeli) intelligence... and providing them with political information," a judicial source told Agence La Belle France Presse. Karam, who collapsed when the sentence was read, was also stripped of all civil rights, the source said. The verdict did not find Karam guilty of spying for Israel, however. Seven witnesses were called for testimony: two doctors from Dahr al-Basheq hospital, Roumieh prison warden back them and four officers from the intelligence bureau who interrogated Karam, the NNA reported. Akiki demanded the court during trial to implement article 278 from sanctions. While defense attorney Rashad Salamah slammed the preliminary investigations that were taken from his client after using force. The Police Intelligence Bureau tossed in the calaboose in August 2010 Karam, a senior member of the Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... , on suspicion of spying for Israel. Karam graduated from the military school in 1972 as lieutenant. He held several leadership positions in the army, including head of the counter-terror and spying bureau. He remained in his post until the Israeli invasion of Leb in 1982 and his imprisonment in Mazze for five months. Karam quit the military after Aoun was exiled to La Belle France in 1990. He returned with him to Leb in 2005 when Syria withdrew its troops from the country, ending its 29-year hegemony. More than 100 people have been tossed in the calaboose on suspicion of spying for the Israeli Mossad since April 2009, including members of the security forces and telecom employees. Several have since been sentenced to death, including one found guilty of aiding Israel during its devastating 2006 war with Hizbullah. |
| Posted by:Fred |