The Daily Star - Future slams Hezbollah for silence on Karam - September 06, 2011

BEIRUT: MPs from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc lashed out at Hezbollah Monday for keeping silent on the case of retired Army Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam who was sentenced to two years in prison for collaborating with Israel.
Karam is a close aide to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun who is allied with Hezbollah. The military court’s verdict Saturday has set off a flurry of reactions from Karam’s political allies and rivals.
“Aoun’s supporters kept up their campaign against the Lebanese judiciary and the [Internal Security Forces’] Information Branch in a desperate attempt to justify their desperate defense of a man accused of betraying the country amid total silence by Hezbollah. which has previously called for the execution of anyone found guilty of collaboration with Israel,” Future MP Ammar Houri said in a radio interview.
He said that the Lebanese were exchanging a joke that anyone who wants to collaborate with Israel and wants to protect himself, he has only to be a member of the FPM. “Anyone who wants to commit a specific crime and wants to cover himself, he has to be a member of Hezbollah,” Ammar said sarcastically.
He added that Hezbollah was protecting four party members who have been indicted by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Future MP Khoder Habib expressed regret over what he viewed as a light sentence against Karam. “The charge of collaboration with Israel now amounts to a violation of traffic laws,” Habib told the Central News Agency. He said the verdicts for collaboration with Israel should range between eight years to life imprisonment.
Karam, a senior FPM official, was found guilty of collaborating with Israel and providing Mossad agents with information about the FPM and Hezbollah in return for money. The final sentence against Karam was lowered from three to two years in prison. Karam has already served more than one year behind the bars, leaving him to serve 11 months.
Apparently responding to Future MPs, MP Kamel Rifai, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, told the Central News Agency Monday that the bloc will declare its position on Karam’s verdict in a statement to be issued after its weekly meeting Wednesday.
Meanwhile, MPs from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, reiterated Monday the bloc’s decision to appeal the sentence against Karam.
“We will go to the Court of Appeal in the case of retired Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam because there are 10 points contrary to the regulations of penal trials,” Metn MP Nabil Nicolas told Al-Jadid television.
He dismissed the sentence against Karam as “unrealistic and not objective,” saying it was based on investigations carried out by the ISF’s Information Branch. “The Information Branch is illegitimate,” Nicolas said.
“Preliminary investigations in Karam’s case are invalid because they were conducted by an illegitimate authority,” he said. He added that Karam was sentenced for contacting rather than collaborating with Israel.
Metn MP Ibrahim Kanaan said the military court’s verdict against Karam showed the “Lebanese judiciary wanted to protect the Information Branch.” In an interview with the French edition of Sada al-Balad newspaper, Kanaan said Karam was innocent.
“We have previously challenged injustice in several fields. We will soon emerge from this case victorious,” he said.