Relatives of Ali Fayad, who was previously arrested in Prague, staged Monday a sit-in near the Justice Palace to protest over his arrest after his return to Lebanon on Friday.
Five Czechs who surfaced in Lebanon last week after their suspected kidnapping last July left for home as their government freed two Lebanese nationals who had been held on an extradition request by the United States.
The disappearance of the five, treated by Czech authorities as a likely kidnapping, was connected by media in both countries and a security source with the detention since 2014 of Lebanese nationals Khaled Merebi and Ali Fayad in the Czech Republic.
A Czech court ruled earlier that the two Lebanese, charged in the United States with an attempt to sell ground-to-air missiles, cocaine trafficking and other crimes, could be extradited to the United States.
The final decision, however, was up to Justice Minister Robert Pelikan and he ruled on Thursday (February 4) that the two would not be extradited.
Consequently, Fayad returned on Friday to Lebanon where he was arrested on charges of arms trafficking.