Fatah’s chief in Lebanon, a fugitive since he was sentenced to death in absentia in 1999, surrendered yesterday to a Lebanese military tribunal that swiftly quashed his conviction, a judicial source said. Sultan Abul Aynain was exonerated of charges that he formed “armed groups” and carried out “terrorist acts,” and was released following the court session in Beirut.The move came days after Abul Aynain pledged his Fatah faction would round up weapons from refugee camps amid growing calls for militias in the country to be disbanded. Abul Aynain surrendered to authorities at the military tribunal in Beirut after traveling from the refugee camp of Rashidiyeh in southern Lebanon, where he had been holed up since the death sentence was issued in 1999.
Just prior to his surrender, Abul Aynain spoke to Arab News about the February 2004 UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which calls for all foreign forces in Lebanon — mainly Syrian — to withdraw from the sovereign country. “We will not have dialogue with the Lebanese government based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 nor on any other basis,” said Abul Aynain. “However we are very serious in reaching a solution regarding our weapons inside and outside the Palestinian refugee camps. But we will not enter the game of answering accusations through the media, which some Lebanese politicians with foreign agendas are playing,” he added.