| The Daily Star |
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BEIRUT: Retired Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam was sentenced by a military court to two years of hard labor in prison for collaborating with Israel, setting off a flurry of reactions from his political allies and rivals.
Karam, a senior Free Patriotic Movement official, was found guilty by Judge Nizar Khalil of collaborating with Israel and providing Mossad agents with information about the FPM and Hezbollah in return for money.
During a lengthy session at the military court in Beirut Saturday, Khalil issued the court’s verdict after listening to seven witnesses, Military Prosecutor Judge Fadi Aqiqi and Karam’s lawyers.
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.
The military court’s indictment against Karam had demanded that he be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison with hard labor.
Upon hearing the verdict, Karam fell on his chair and was immediately carried away by the army personnel to Ashrafieh’s Hotel Dieu hospital.
Karam was also stripped off his civil and political rights, making him ineligible from running for any public office in the future.
Accompanying FPM leader MP Michel Aoun, Karam returned to Beirut in 2005 and was charged with collaborating with Israel five years later. According to the verdict, Karam had acknowledged during interrogations that he had met an Israeli officer at a checkpoint in Lebanon in 1982. The verdict also said that Karam, along with fugitive Elias Karam, fled to Israel and stayed there for few days before leaving to Cyprus and then Paris.
“Karam admitted in preliminary investigations in front of the investigative judge that he was in contact with the Israelis and provided them with political information in return for money … and later on, he denied saying these statements,” said the verdict issued by the court.
“In three letters to his wife and children, Karam, while in prison, admitted that he was in contact with Israeli officers and provided them with political information in return for 7,000 euros,” the verdict added.
The court also sentenced fugitive Elias Karam to 10 years in prison with hard labor, after reducing it from the initial sentence of 15 years.
Karam’s case has fueled the political rivalry between the FPM and the Internal Security Force’s Information Branch, which went after Karam and dozens of other spies in Lebanon.
According to many officials in the FPM, the Information Branch is an illegal security entity and it aims to undermine the FPM’s popularity by accusing one of its members of collaborating with Israel.
“A sentence of two years is proof that Karam is innocent. This verdict is based on a preliminary investigation whose [records] have been destroyed instead of being saved,” Metn MP Ibrahim Kanaan said Sunday.
In a statement to the media, Kanaan questioned whether it is reasonable to destroy records that are vital to an investigation. “This verdict was issued to protect the Information Branch, because if Karam was declared innocent, the Information Branch would have lost all of its credibility,” Kanaan added.
Kanaan also said that FPM’s popularity and its beliefs in Karam’s innocence will not falter.
But according to officials in the March 14 coalition, the 2-year sentence against Karam encourages Lebanese to collaborate freely with Israel.
In a statement Sunday, Future Movement MP Oqab Sakr said that Hezbollah has been completely silent as it watches its allies in the FPM accompany an Israeli collaborator to the courtroom in Beirut.
Commenting on Karam’s verdict, Sakr asked sarcastically whether there was such a thing as “full collaborators” and “half collaborators.”
“A life time sentence was reduced to two years because of Karam’s affiliation with FPM,” Sakr added.
Sakr also said that Israel is the winner in Karam’s case because it could easily mobilize collaborators who are either allies of Hezbollah or members of the resistance.
Karam, a senior Free Patriotic Movement official, was found guilty by Judge Nizar Khalil of collaborating with Israel and providing Mossad agents with information about the FPM and Hezbollah in return for money.
During a lengthy session at the military court in Beirut Saturday, Khalil issued the court’s verdict after listening to seven witnesses, Military Prosecutor Judge Fadi Aqiqi and Karam’s lawyers.
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.
The military court’s indictment against Karam had demanded that he be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison with hard labor.
Upon hearing the verdict, Karam fell on his chair and was immediately carried away by the army personnel to Ashrafieh’s Hotel Dieu hospital.
Karam was also stripped off his civil and political rights, making him ineligible from running for any public office in the future.
Accompanying FPM leader MP Michel Aoun, Karam returned to Beirut in 2005 and was charged with collaborating with Israel five years later. According to the verdict, Karam had acknowledged during interrogations that he had met an Israeli officer at a checkpoint in Lebanon in 1982. The verdict also said that Karam, along with fugitive Elias Karam, fled to Israel and stayed there for few days before leaving to Cyprus and then Paris.
“Karam admitted in preliminary investigations in front of the investigative judge that he was in contact with the Israelis and provided them with political information in return for money … and later on, he denied saying these statements,” said the verdict issued by the court.
“In three letters to his wife and children, Karam, while in prison, admitted that he was in contact with Israeli officers and provided them with political information in return for 7,000 euros,” the verdict added.
The court also sentenced fugitive Elias Karam to 10 years in prison with hard labor, after reducing it from the initial sentence of 15 years.
Karam’s case has fueled the political rivalry between the FPM and the Internal Security Force’s Information Branch, which went after Karam and dozens of other spies in Lebanon.
According to many officials in the FPM, the Information Branch is an illegal security entity and it aims to undermine the FPM’s popularity by accusing one of its members of collaborating with Israel.
“A sentence of two years is proof that Karam is innocent. This verdict is based on a preliminary investigation whose [records] have been destroyed instead of being saved,” Metn MP Ibrahim Kanaan said Sunday.
In a statement to the media, Kanaan questioned whether it is reasonable to destroy records that are vital to an investigation. “This verdict was issued to protect the Information Branch, because if Karam was declared innocent, the Information Branch would have lost all of its credibility,” Kanaan added.
Kanaan also said that FPM’s popularity and its beliefs in Karam’s innocence will not falter.
But according to officials in the March 14 coalition, the 2-year sentence against Karam encourages Lebanese to collaborate freely with Israel.
In a statement Sunday, Future Movement MP Oqab Sakr said that Hezbollah has been completely silent as it watches its allies in the FPM accompany an Israeli collaborator to the courtroom in Beirut.
Commenting on Karam’s verdict, Sakr asked sarcastically whether there was such a thing as “full collaborators” and “half collaborators.”
“A life time sentence was reduced to two years because of Karam’s affiliation with FPM,” Sakr added.
Sakr also said that Israel is the winner in Karam’s case because it could easily mobilize collaborators who are either allies of Hezbollah or members of the resistance.
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