Washington is exerting pressure on Lebanon to release Amer Elias al-Fakhouri, dubbed the 'Butcher of Khiam', who has for years worked and spied for Israel, Arab media reports said.
The Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel quoted the Lebanese embassy in Washington as reporting that the US is attempting to pressure Beirut to free al-Fakhouri.
"The Lebanese embassy in Washington has informed Beirut that the US government is pressuring to release Amer al-Fakhouri, Israel's mercenary," a Lebanese official was quoted by the Lebanese channel as saying.
Fakhouri was arrested and referred to the Military Tribunal on 13 September over accusations of joining enemy forces, possessing an Israeli ID, and torturing Lebanese nationals resulting in their deaths.
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Survivors of torture camp want justice after 'butcher of Khiam' returns to Lebanon |
Several individuals detained at the Khiam camp, including at least eight people who died while in detention, were held without any legal charges, warrants, court hearings or sentences.
They were not allowed access to the outside world during open-ended detentions that lasted for months and years.
In the 1990s, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said Israeli intelligence had direct involvement in the Khiam camp, despite attempts by Israel to distance itself from responsibility for the crimes committed there.
An affidavit submitted by the Israeli defense ministry to Israel’s High Court of Justice in September 1999 stated that the Khiam camp was administered, maintained and guarded by the SLA. The SLA itself was financed and armed by Israel.
Fakhouri was one of two top officials at the Khiam camp that had a dual command structure. He was the prison commander in charge of both the camp’s military personnel and the sections housing detainees.
He reportedly served in this position for at least a decade, according to former detainees, and was replaced approximately two years before the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon in May 2000.
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