| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon |
| Judicial Council postpones Dinnieh trial |
| 2003-04-12 |
| The Judicial Council postponed the trial session of Dinnieh clashes suspects Friday to May 16, due to the absence of suspect Nasser Ahmad. Suspect Haitham Saleh attended the session, which was presided over by Magistrate Tanios Khoury. The session was aimed at listening to the statements of both Nasser and Saleh, who were released pending investigations. Dinnieh suspects are facing trials on charges of undermining state security by participating in clashes that left several people dead and many others injured, including army personnel, in the northern area in 2000. They are believed to be headed by Ahmad Abdel-Karim al-Saadi, alias Abu Mehjan. Authorities have announced that the Palestinian Muslim fundamentalist is hiding in the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh near Sidon. The Dinnieh gang is protected by Jamaat al-Nour, which is a minigroup operating in Ein el-Hilweh that wants to be Ansar al-Islam. They were part of a group called Takfir wa al-Hijra, which consisted of 200-300 Sunni "militants" (read Krazed Killers), who had established themselves in the mountains of Dinnieh, east of Tripoli, in northern Lebanon. In 2000, 13,000 Lebanese army troops backed by tanks and artillery defeated them and broke them up. There are the usual Afghan connection, and financing by Osama bin Laden. The remaining leaders of the group are holed up in Hilweh. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |