By Youssef Diab
BEIRUT: The Military Court of Cassation rescheduled Tuesday its deliberations over releasing one of the suspects in the twin bombings in north Lebanon, while arrest warrants are expected to be issued soon against a Syrian intelligence officer and another Syrian man allegedly involved in the deadly attacks.
The court failed to convene after some judges did not show up at the session, causing Sheikh Hashem Minqara, charged with withholding information about the bombings, to remain in detention, a judicial source told The Daily Star.
The court is scheduled to meet Wednesday to decide on Minqara’s release, the source said.
Military Investigative Judge Riad Abu Ghayda Monday ordered Minqara’s release on bail, but the decision was later challenged by Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr.
Abu Ghayda issued two arrest warrants Monday against Sheikh Ahmad Gharib and informant Mustafa Houri for their involvement in last month’s bombings in Tripoli.
Gharib and Houri, as well as two Syrians who are still at large, were charged last week with the car blasts outside two mosques in Tripoli that killed 47 and wounded hundreds.
The Syrian suspects were identified as Capt. Mohammad Ali Ali, a Syrian intelligence officer, and Khodr Lutfi al-Airouni.
Gharib and Houri were charged with tasking the two Syrians to set up a “monitoring and planning cell to carry out terrorist acts in Lebanon,” while the two Syrians were charged with rigging two cars with explosives and placing them, with the help of other individuals, outside the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques in Tripoli.
Minqara, the head of a pro-Assad Islamist group in Lebanon, was charged with withholding information about the cell’s terrorist activities.
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04/09/2013
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