Lebanon charges first politician with spying for Israel
Fayez Karam first politician to be charged in a widening espionage case.
By The Associated Press Tags: Israel news LebanonA Lebanese military prosecutor charged on Tuesday a Christian party member who was formerly an army general with spying for Israel, the first politician to be charged in a widening espionage case.
Judge Sakr Sakr accused Fayez Karam of the Free Patriotic Movement of dealing with "the enemy's intelligence and meeting their officers abroad, and giving them information by phone", according to the charge sheet.
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Lebanese politician Fayez Karam, R, in Beirut in 2005 |
| Photo by: AP |
Karam, who belonged to the movement headed by Michel Aoun, a former army chief now allied to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, was also charged with providing Israel with information on the Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and other parties.
"(He used to give information) about what happened in closed meetings between the leaders of the aforementioned parties and their cadres in return for money and weapons," Sakr said.
If convicted, Karam, who was the head of a counter-terrorism and espionage unit in the army, would face the death penalty.
Karam's arrest has come as a shock to Lebanon, already reeling from a number of high-profile detentions of military and telecom employees, and has raised debate over how deeply Israel has managed to infiltrate and compromise Lebanon's security.
Three employees at state-owned telecom firms have been charged with spying, prompting Hezbollah to suggest Israel could have used telecom agents to manipulate phone records to implicate the group in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in a 2006 war, has blamed the Jewish state for the killing.
Lebanon's Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said his ministry had collected 150 cases of spying for Israel and was planning to raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council.
The names are "of all sects and denominations. There are some truly complex and unbelievable cases", he was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Lebanon has arrested dozens of people since last year on suspicion of spying for Israel. More than 20 people have been charged, and two have been sentenced to death.
Senior Lebanese security officials have said the arrests dealt a significant blow to Israel's spying networks in Lebanon, especially since the suspects played key roles in identifying Hezbollah targets that were bombed during the 2006 conflict.
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isreal always look for problems doesnt like solution,,,in our new world and generation there isnt super power ,,,can israel be fair once
I can see a possile tragedy about to take place. The up and coming holocaust of the remaining Lebanese Christians. One by one they are assasinating or imprisioning anyone capable of fighting back. Soon all that will be left are the elderly, women and children.
Perhaps a not so obvious benefit is that intelligence of Hezbollah military assets will likely wane as well leaving open the question of extent of deterrent capability. This should cause pause in any plans to repeat assault on the nation thus leading to stability in the region.
Israel does the exact same thing. I your neighbor doesn't go to your synagogue/mosque theyre the enemy.
israel=land of the spies
Lebanon has arrested dozens of people since last year on suspicion of spying for Israel. More than 20 people have been charged, and two have been sentenced to death.
Every time Nasasi comes up with more so called Israeli spies working in Lebanon,he not only weakens his position,but also that of Lebanon.This time it was a Leb. politician. We'd like to hear more & more of these tales coming out of Lebanon which proves two things,a) Lebanon society is fed up of Nasrellah's dictarship. b) It is showing the world that Lebanon is rotten to the core. We would like to see more of such revelations,... Just look at the Butcher of Lebanon ! Beard turned gray, haggard face, slowly being eaten by cancer. Take another long look at this,the Destroyer of Lebanon.
Read the article first. The guy was in charge of the army and in charge of the anti-espoinage division 20 years ago. He began his espoinage activity while he was in exile with Aoun in Paris in the 1990s and continued it when he returned to Lebanon in 2005. He had no military career since 1991 ! ! ! As for Hezbullah accusing him, that's none sense. Nasrallah is somehow embaressed with the existance of such an important spy in the top ranks of his best ally, the Free Patriotic Movement lead by Aoun.
Seems some of that annual $3 Billion stipend Israel gets from the U.S. may be destined for more than pure military needs. Understandable enough but with the deepening pool of those bought off not unfounded speculation may conclude those responsible for Hariri's assassination could be as Nasrallah claims.
israel is our enemy 4 ever ,and iam as muslim sunni i wish and i think that isreal killed hariri ,and even if hizbullah killed him we can forgive thim but we cant forgive isreal for all its crimes which we cant count them in lebanon ,palastine and egypt,syria,iraq,and at the end we love saddam hussien 4 ever ,we love nasser ,we love salahdine,we love arafat>
This was an excellent presentation by Nasrallah. He provided enough evidence to make pointing the finger at Israel a real possibility. Failure of the STL to investigate the the evidence presented will render any indictments issued soon meaningless and will difinately loose any credibility it may still have specially after having accused Syria of the assassination for the previous 5 years. Love him or hate him; Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah is the cleverest most credible politician in the ME.
These politicians are Lebanese patriots who simply don't want their country dragged down into a bottomless pit of backwardness and destruction by Hezbollah acting at the behest of their Iranian masters. Lebanon should be the master of its fate, not Iran
The Mossad, like the IDF, has become an organization that favors quantity over quality. We saw evidence of this when the Mossad sent an entire three ring circus to Dubai to assassinate one old man. The result was that the operation was unmasked and shown to be completely overplanned and yet amateurish. We saw this when the IDF attacked all of Lebanon in order to combat Hizbollah in 2006. The result was a Hizbollah victory. Now we see an Israeli spy ring being rolled up. Israel has enough spies in Lebanon for them to form their own faction and send members to parlament. Obviously the Lebanese government (and Hizbollah) would not risk offending Michel Aoun unless they had very good evidence on this spy.
Accusing everyone who is not 100% on their side of being spies so that they can take over. This is the beginning of a tyranical government that will rule through fear and intimidation
Jack ass he was on there side
The spies who are being rounded up have actually nothing to do with Hezbollah but the Lebanese internal security services using American provided technology. Just to let you in on a secret over 80% of Lebanese from all sects support Hezbollah. Sorry to ruin your theory of a 'Tyranical Government'
These arrests are being done by the Lebanese security forces and not Hizballah. Hizballah gains nothing from the arrest of a member belonging to his ally Aoun.
This guy apparently was a 100 percent on their side, he was working for Hizbullah's ally Aoun, which makes it very likely that he was indeed a spy. I hope he will serve as an example to all others that betray their country for the benefit of money.
1. Hezbollah is not the government 2. MANY if not most spies WERE on Hezbollah's side 3. Israel has been declared an ENEMY by the LEBANESE STATE which includes ALL Lebanese people.
Seriously, why would you disagree with his statement?
he will burn in eternal Hell also know as New Jersey.
Enough is enough!
Is considered a spy, must be arrested, found guilty and executed. This is pure Hizbullah theatrics and is used to gain complete control over teh command and control of the military. Anyone who could create a fifth column is being rounded up and accused, much like teh salem witch hunts. It says very little about lebanons political health when so many people are allegedl;y spying for Israel. Clearly the lebanese are pinning their hopes on ISrael taking out the Hizbullah and restoring proper Lebanese rule to the country. Sooner rather than later, Hizbullah will be gone as Syria abandons her and Hizbullah pushes for a war of distraction. All good except this time ISrael will finish the job
He communicated with Israel which is an enemy as per lebanese constitution, therefore he is a spy...all the rest that you wrote is useless.
Not quite sure where you got your information from! No Lebanese I know is pinning any hope on the Israelis to do anything good in Lebanon. Back in the early 80, some Maronite Christians were naive enough to believe that Israel was going to hand them Lebanon on a silver plate but then discovered to their cost that they have been merely a cannon fodder fro the Israelis. I don't think they are stupid enough to fall for that one again
Why should Israel help Lebanon get rid of Hezbullah? Afterwards the Lebanese will still shun Israel.
isreal tried in 2006 and could not do it what make you think they can do it now ? and the news now that they are much stronger than 2006 and they hack air crafts now days 2
Other than the propaganda garbage you have been fed you can not prove this allegation.
This just goes to prove Israel has all the human, logistical and criminal capability of executing any assassination operation in Lebanon. Israel was the biggest beneficiary in Hariri's killing and everyone knows it. It is for crimes like this that prove Israel is unwilling to exist in this region at peace with its neighours. It is crimes like this that push us Arabs away from wishing for coexistence.
Dear Hussam, don't let Nasrallah fool you again and again. we, the lebanese who lived the events and follow politics closely know very well that it is Syria who commanded and Hezbollah who executed the killing of our prime minister Hariri. now it seems that Syria is able to wash her bloody hands and leave Hezbollah alone implicated in the killing.
You said what????? Why don’t you let me know when Hezbola, Hamas, Islamic jihad, Al-Qaida, FLP, Muslim brotherhood, and all the other ISLAMIC groups decide to "coexist with Jews" Because last time I checked Muslims/Arabs were burning my flag, and begging Allah to exterminate me and my family……So forgive me if I call BULL S@#T on your delusional post, and the angelic Muslim world.
What benefit did Israel get from the assassination? Israel has no desire to destabilize Lebanon--it's precisely the opposite. The obvious beneficiary is Hizbullah, which is moving closer and closer to taking full control of Lebanon.
in the heart of the Arab World. Enough is enough!
...as long as it involves blaming Israel. Actually, Israel didn't benefit at all from Hariri's death since it resulted in a Hezbollah takeover of Lebanon.
I have no idea who killed Hariri. I don't pretend to know something that none of us can possibly know for sure. What benefit would we have killing him? We are only concerned with Hezbolla staring another war. The rest is the Arab world's paranoia.
It's people like you who will eternally despise Israel now matter what it does or however innocent it is.