14 November 2013

TRIPOLI: Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr turned down Wednesday a request to drop charges and revoke a search warrant against Ali Eid, the head of the pro-Assad Arab Democratic Party who is accused of aiding a suspect in the case of deadly car bombings in Tripoli.

The judge, according to a judicial source, also rejected a request by Eid’s lawyer to rescind an arrest warrant against Ahmad Ali, a day after Military Investigative Judge Riyad Abu Ghayda referred the attorney’s requests to Saqr.

Although the ultimate decision is up to Abu Ghayda, Eid’s lawyer, Hiam Eid, is expected to appeal Saqr’s decision.

Eid failed to appear in court Tuesday for questioning over his alleged role in helping Ahmad Merhi – a suspect in the deadly August car bombings in Tripoli – flee to Syria.

Hiam, who is also Ali Eid’s sister, attended the session and presented a request to revoke a search warrant against the ADP chief as well as an arrest warrant against his driver, Ali.

She also hinted that Eid was in poor health and requested on his behalf to have the charges dropped.

Ali was charged with smuggling Merhi across the border into Syria, allegedly on Eid’s orders.

On Aug. 23, two car bombings outside mosques in Tripoli killed at least 47 people and wounded hundreds more.

Last week, security forces raided Eid’s home in the northern village of Hikr al-Daheri near the Syrian border, but he was not found at the location.

The raid came after Saqr issued a search warrant for Eid.

Eid enjoys strong support from the Alawite community in Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen, which has frequently clashed with Sunni-majority Bab al-Tabbaneh.

Meanwhile the body of pro-Hezbollah Sheikh Saadeddine Ghiyyeh’s body was transferred from his home in Qibbeh to his hometown Takrit in Akkar, where he was buried. Ghiyyeh was assassinated Tuesday.

As of Wednesday evening, Tripoli was still enduring small-scale security incidents along the traditional front line of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen and elsewhere in the city.

The Internal Security Forces pursued two men along the Bahsas highway in the city. The two men, Mustafa Tarsha and Khalil Shaaban, exchanged gunfire with police. Shaaban was injured and taken to a local hospital, while Tarsha fled the scene.

In Qibbeh, families awoke to gunfire as a student at the local vocational school shot another student over a personal dispute, causing mild injuries. Mohammad al-Ahmad, the student who fired the gun, was arrested.

In the Abi Samra area, a man fired a gun at his wife over what witnesses said was a family dispute in a grocery store, wounding her in the legs. At the jewelers’ market, unknown men set fire to a car belonging to Ghassan Hassoun, a local gold merchant.

Unknown gunmen riding motorbikes also fired on a group of Syrian workers, injuring two identified as Jassem Ghadir and Hamdan Daas. Both were transferred to a local hospital for treatment.

Several hours later, the ISF announced it had banned motorcycles and scooters from the city for security reasons, saying they were linked to thefts and gun crimes in the city. It was unclear how long the ban would last.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel called for the immediate implementation of a security plan for Tripoli to end the chaos there.

In an interview with VDL, he rejected the “policy of resorting to assassinations to resolve political disputes” and said security forces were working to find and apprehend those responsible for Ghiyyeh’s killing, but said it was unlikely this would lead to a wave of assassinations in the country.

Regarding the case of Eid, Charbel said the judiciary should be allowed to carry out its duties.

A watchdog group representing business owners in Bab al-Tabbaneh called on the state to provide them with financial aid, saying the recent fighting had forced them to shutter their businesses and incur losses.

Religious figures also weighed in on the security situation.

Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani said the ongoing deterioration in security would cause grave dangers to Lebanon, saying the army, internal security forces and other security agencies, as well as all political factions, had a “fateful and historic role” in restoring security.

The prominent Shiite scholar Sayyed Ali Fadlallah said the Lebanese state should act to protect Tripoli.

“What happened and is happening in Tripoli is a grave danger that goes beyond the north to the entirety of Lebanon, threatening Lebanese stability,” he said.

The killing of Ghiyyeh shows that problems have gone beyond political disagreements to assassinations and could cause widespread strife, he said, urging the Lebanese people to avoid religious incitement.

Copyright The Daily Star 2013.