A military court was adjourned until Nov. 7 to continue the trial of members of a suspected network accused of blowing up restaurants and commercial stores carrying Western names and endangering national security. The defendants were also accused of planning an attempt on the life of US Ambassador Vincent Battle and an attack on the US Embassy, as well as an attempt to blow up a Russian airliner at Beirut International Airport with a Russian diplomat on board to protest against the war in Chechnya. The legal proceedings have been postponed so that the court can place the alleged mastermind of the group, a Yemeni called Moammar Qawama, known as Ibn al-Shahid (Son of the Martyr), under its custody as he was apprehended in Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp.
| Where else would you expect to find a Yemeni criminal mastermind in Lebanon? |
Qawama was turned over to the Lebanese security authorities for trial and interrogation by the military court. Some of the defendants in custody had said that Qawama supplied them with weapons, financed them and enticed them to attack American interests.
| "It was him, y'r honor! We wuz just standin' there, doin' nothin', and then he... he... enticed us!" |
The court, presided over by Brigadier Maher Safieddine, began looking into the case on Sept. 12 by questioning six of the accused who were indicted for having links with the Al-Qaeda network. One of the main defendants, Khaled Mohammed Ali, earlier this month admitted that he was the mastermind and perpetrator of the explosions that targeted commercial establishments and restaurants carrying American names.
"Dat's right! I'm the mastermind! It wuz me!"
"Oh, shuddup. You ain't no damned mastermind!" |
He told the court that âas long as America persists in the killing of Muslims and renders them homeless, determination to strike its interests will increase.â However, he denied having planned an attack on the US Embassy or an attempt to assassinate its ambassador, claiming that these accusations were âfabricatedâ by investigators. |