BEIRUT: Politicians and religious figures from
rival March 14 and March 8 political camps expressed opposing reactions Friday
to Thursday’s arrest of former Information Minister Michel Samaha by the
Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch.
Mustafa Hamdan, an ex-security chief of former
President Emile Lahoud, who was detained for four years between 2005 and 2009
on suspicions of being involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri, said that accusations against Samaha mean the crisis in Syria has
now moved to Lebanon.
“I call on the national forces to be ready and
get prepared, because the attack in Syria [against the regime] has also started
in Lebanon today,” said Hamdan.
Speaking after his meeting with Free Patriotic
Movement leader Michel Aoun Friday, Hamdan said that Samaha’s allies will
prepare a proper response to his detention.
“We know how and when the proper response will
take place,” he said.
A unit from the ISF Information Branch raided
Samaha’s residence in Khanshara-Jwar in Metn Thursday morning, detaining the
former minister and transferring him to the ISF headquarters in Beirut for
interrogation.
Hamdan described Samaha’s detention as a
“kidnapping,” saying that the abduction of 11 Lebanese pilgrims in Syria and
that of Samaha have the same intention but were carried out by different
individuals.
“The kidnapper of the 11 pilgrims in Syria is
Abu Ibrahim, and in Lebanon the kidnapper is Wissam al-Hasan, [head of the
Information Branch],” he said.
FPM officials also criticized the way in which
Samaha was detained and said the Information Branch of the ISF is politicized
and does not have the legitimacy to carry out such interrogations.
“The leaks to the media on the case of the
former minister’s detention were modified, and the security unit that is
carrying out the investigation is politicized and not comfortable,” FPM
official and Culture Minister Gaby Layyoun said in an interview.
Bishop Issam Darwish of the Archbishopric in
Zahle also denounced the way Samaha was detained Thursday.
“It does not suit for a security force whose
legitimacy is in doubt to act in this barbaric way with an individual that
served Lebanon for a long time in different posts,” said Darwish.
Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel said that the timing
of Samaha’s arrest came as a shock to all Lebanese.
“If the accusations are proven against him, it
means Syria wants to the situation in Lebanon to explode,” he said. He also
criticized the probe leaks to the media, saying that such leaks would only harm
the investigation.
March 14 officials hailed
what they called “an achievement” by the ISF for thwarting the alleged plots in
which Samaha is suspected of being involvement.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Aug-11/184241-leaders-of-rival-political-camps-lock-horns-over-samaha-arrest.ashx#axzz22xdpMYwe
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