Daily Star - Future aims to deny term reduction for Israel collaborators, April 10, 2012

BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Monday his Future Movement parliamentary bloc would propose a law banning collaborators with Israel from benefiting from a shortened prison year, as the party ramps up its criticism of the early release of Fayez Karam.

“I think that the Future Movement bloc will submit a proposal so that the reduction of the prison term does not apply to crimes against the Lebanese state, such as dealing with Israel,” Siniora said during a gathering at his Sidon office.

Karam, 62, a former Lebanese Army officer and politician convicted of passing information to Israel, was released last week in line with Parliament’s recent decision to reduce the prison year from 12 to nine months.

At the beginning of the year the government agreed to reduce prison sentences from one year to nine months after public outcry over prison conditions. Karam was a beneficiary of the new law and was let out of jail ahead of schedule.

In September 2010, Karam was found guilty of contacting Israeli intelligence and providing them with information on Hezbollah and its ally the Free Patriotic Movement, of which the retired brigadier general is a member. The verdict did not find Karam guilty of spying for Israel.

Siniora said he was concerned about the precedent the Karam release would set for the crime of national treason. He said the law reducing prison sentences was hastily drafted and needed to be fixed to be used properly.

Siniora said that Karam’s release opens the door for making the serious crime of treason seem like a minor offense. He said with a possible light sentence, violators would be encouraged, that they would feel “the duration of the sentence is worth carrying out the crime or repeating it.”

Siniora criticized MP Michel Aoun, head of the FPM, for welcoming Karam as he returned from prison, saying that Aoun acknowledged that Karam had committed a serious crime.

Aoun on the other hand has said Karam has done his time and he never endangered national security, while Karam says his detention was political and he still stands with the FPM.

Siniora also criticized Hezbollah’s silence on the matter of Karam’s release given Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s insistence that Israel collaborators should be put to death. “I wonder about those who raised their voices saying that collaborating with Israel should be punished severely,” Siniora said.

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