Judge Saqr calls for expanding investigation in Samaha’s case

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr called on the Military Investigative Judge Riad Abou Ghida Monday to expand the investigation in the case of former Minister Michel Samaha.

Defendants including Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk and Colonel Adnan, whose identity remains unknown, will be called upon for testimonies alongside the political and media adviser to the Syrian President Bouthaina Shaaban.                        

Samaha, was arrested on Thursday 9th of August by the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch on suspicion of involvement in a plot to carry out terrorist attacks in Lebanon in collaboration with Syria.                

He was charged on Aug. 11 alongside Syrian National Security Bureau head Ali Mamlouk and a Syrian army officer identified as Brig. Gen. Adnan with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures in Lebanon and carry out terrorist attacks by the he government’s deputy commissioner at the Military Tribunal.              

The three men were accused of planning to incite sectarian clashes through terrorist attacks in North Lebanon during the Eid using explosives that Samaha allegedly transported to Lebanon and stored after taking possession of them from Mamlouk and Adnan.