Pop singer turned terrorist sympathizer Fadel Shaker was sentenced in absentia Friday, to five years in prison on fresh charges brought by the Military Tribunal, judicial sources told The Daily Star.
The verdict was handed down to Shaker, one of convicted terrorist leader Sheikh Ahmad Assir’s lackeys, on new charges of insulting the Army and an Arab country, in addition to inciting sedition in remarks he gave to a newspaper during an interview.
The court also demanded Shaker pay LL500,000 ($330) in fines and be stripped of his civil rights. Yet, the court failed to cite which particular interview the sentence was based on.
Shaker has continuously refused to hand himself in to the authorities and remains at large. He is currently taking shelter in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, outside the reach of Lebanese authorities. He has previously accused the judiciary of being biased against him.
Shaker responded to the allegations by the Military Tribunal, saying, “The brotherly state that I am being convicted [of insulting] is the very same country whose president and intelligence head worked to blow Lebanon up,” he said in a statment refering to Syria.
The Syrian regime has been accused of orchestrating a number of bombings across Lebanon that targeted notable security and political figures in addition to civilians.
Assir has been convicted of leading the 2013 Abra battle between the army and militants loyal to the preacher, which Shaker stands accused of participating in. Clashes erupted after militants loyal to Assir threw grenades at an Army checkpoint then fled to the Abra mosque in Sidon, which was under the control of extremists loyal to Assir. The ensuing two-day battle left 18 soldiers and about 40 militants dead.
In 2014, a military judge sought the death penalty for Assir and 56 others, including Shaker, for their involvement in the clashes. Assir was arrested in August 2015 by General Security at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport as he attempted to flee the country in disguise.
Shaker broke ties with Assir after the clashes, claiming he had been manipulated by the preacher and that he did not partake in the fighting.
Shaker also denied that he disrespected the bodies of soldiers in a controversial video that surfaced online during the clashes.
Assir, a fierce critic of Hezbollah and Syria accused the party of oppressing Sunnis in Lebanon, controlling the country, and influencing the Army.
In a separate case, the Military Court also sentenced Abed al-Kateem Hantour to a year of imprisonment with hard labor, in addition to stripping him of his civil rights.
Hantour confessed to going to Syria to join an armed group in support of the revolution. He claims he was moved by the regime’s atrocities against civilians, particularly women and children.
The defendant claims he was influenced by his uncle Houssam who heads an armed group in Tripoli. In 2009, when Hantour was only 14 years old, his uncle gave him permission to use a combat rifle for the first time. However, Hantour denied ever partaking in battles in Tripoli or planning terrorist operations in Lebanon.
As soon as he became an adult in the eyes of the law Hantour obtained a passport and made his way to Syria via Turkey. Ten days after his arrival, as he was about to complete his combat training course, the organization he had joined asked him to conduct a suicide bombing operation.
Hantour refused, and promptly returned to Lebanon where he was arrested.
