A US citizen who had faced decades-old murder and torture charges as part of an Israeli-backed militia in Lebanon has been freed, a US senator who had pushed for his release announces.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, says in a statement that she spoke with Amer Fakhoury on the phone soon after his release.
Amer Fakhoury holds his granddaughter, Kira, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, June 2016. (Guila Fakhoury via AP, File)
“Anytime a US citizen is wrongfully detained by a foreign government, we must use every tool at our disposal to free them,” Shaheen says in her statement. “I’m very glad that Amer is finally coming home and will be reunited with his family. No family should have to go through what the Fakhoury family has gone through.”
Fakhoury was ordered released on Monday because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by the South Lebanon Army militia. But he was not immediately allowed to leave the country after a Lebanese military judge on Tuesday appealed the decision, asking the Military Court of Appeals strike down the decision to free Fakhoury.
A judge of urgent matters in the southern town of Nabatiyeh has issued a ruling preventing Fakhoury from leaving Lebanon for two months.
— AP
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