A French expert on Islamist extremism has been deported from host country Lebanon over "terrorist links," a General Security source said.
A senior General Security officer told The Daily Star Tuesday that French Scholar Romain Caillet was deported Sunday for “having links to terrorist organizations,” without providing more details.
Caillet, who had been residing in Lebanon for the last five years, was prevented from re-entering the country after a trip to Morocco, a diplomat at the French Embassy in Beirut told The Daily Star.
The embassy was not informed about the reasons for his deportation, he added, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The researcher posted on his Twitter account two tweets in French accusing Hezbollah of being behind the decision to deport him.
"What do they accuse me of? Daring to speak of the influence of Hezbollah and its pro-Iranian allies on all of Lebanon's institutions," he wrote.
"The murderers of researcher Michel Seurat and Rafik Hariri wanted me to leave Lebanon so my work will continue elsewhere."
Seurat was a French sociologist who was kidnapped by the Islamic Jihad Organization, the precursor to Hezbollah, in 1985 along with another hostage. He was announced dead in March 1986 while still in custody.
Hezbollah has also been accused of being behind the 2005 assassination of Hariri, a former premier. The party vehemently denies those charges.
Caillet is a contemporary historian who has worked for seven years with the Middle East French Institute, according to the think tank’s website.
His profile page says the researcher is based in Beirut, and has worked on a Ph.D thesis titled “The new Muhajirun: The emigration of French salafists to the ‘Land of Islam.’”
- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Mar-03/289458-lebano…
