Lebanon’s judiciary charged a controversial Tripoli Islamist—whose 2012 arrest sparked deadly clashes in the city—on charges of belonging to the infamous Al-Nusra Front, amid mounting tension in the northern Lebanese city.
Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged ten Lebanese people—including Shadi Mawlawi—on Friday for being members of the infamous Al-Nusra Front, which the US and other Western states have blacklisted as a terror organization.
The judge accused them of planning to “conduct terrorist acts in Lebanon and smuggle weapons and explosives between Lebanon and Syria,” the National News Agency reported.
Mawlawi’s May 2012 arrest sparked days of fighting between Sunnis, mostly from the Bab al-Tabbaneh area in Tripoli, and Alawites from Jabal Mohsen area that left at least 10 dead and 70 injured. He was released 10 days after his arrest amid protests held by Islamists in Tripoli.
Mawlawi told NOW’s Karen Boulos on Friday that he will not turn himself in.
The Tripoli resident said that security forces have no evidence backing their allegations, and that he will only accept his incarceration if they could prove him guilty.
“Let [the security forces] recite the indictment against me in front of the public opinion, let them announce the crime I have committed and let them show evidence [against me],” Mawlawi said.
He added that he “does not trust the judiciary,” because security officers “want to fabricate arrest warrants against all the Sunnis.”
The controversial Lebanese man went on to underscore his support for the Syrian anti-regime revolution, denying however any direct ties with the rebels and the Al-Nusra Front in particular.
He later called on the judiciary to issue arrest warrants against Hezbollah, which is “publically fighting on Syrian territory.”
Meanwhile, a Tripoli Salafist Sheikh denied to NOW’s Karen Boulos that Al-Nusra Front members were present in the northern city.
The charges come amid the backdrop of heightened tension in the troubled northern Lebanese city.
A source told NOW on Friday the tension stems from a press conference held earlier in the week by Arab Democratic Party leader Rifaat Eid, in which he warned against attacking Alawites in Tripoli.
The situation worsened after a number of youths hailing from the Bab al-Tabbaneh area burned three oil tanker trucks heading to Syria, the source noted.
Meanwhile, a YouTube video was posted on Thursday showing a Sunni leader identified as Saad al-Masri warning Eid from targeting Bab al-Tabbaneh.
“We tell the insolent [Refaat] Eid, this time will not be like previous times. If you shoot a gun at us, then we will retaliate with a shell. If you fire a shell, then we will retaliate with a rocket strike. No one will deter us this time and we will not have enough of anything less than the hypocritical head of you and your clan,” Masri said during a meeting for Sunni local leaders in Tripoli.
Violent clashes have repeatedly taken place in Tripoli between anti-Syrian regime Sunni and pro-regime Alawite groups whose rival districts — Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, respectively — are divided by main thoroughfare Syria Street.
