Judge Demands Death Penalty for Hizbullah Member over Harb Murder Attempt
Naharnet
30
Apr
2013
Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawan asked for the death penalty against a Hizbullah member in the attempted assassination of Batroun MP Butros Harb. Sawan's request against Mahmoud al-Hayek, who hasn't surrendered to police, came in an indictment he issued Thursday. He also issued an arrest warrant against him and referred the file to the permanent military court for trial. State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr asked on Wednesday for a sentence of life in prison with hard labor for al-Hayek who has been charged with the assassination attempt on Harb last year and with carrying out acts of terror. Harb, a March 14 opposition lawmaker, escaped the assassination bid after residents of a building in which his office is located in the Beirut district of Badaro discovered individuals trying to booby-trap the elevator. A string of high-level assassinations struck Lebanon between 2004 and 2008, targeting political, media and security figures who vocally opposed the Syrian government, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was killed in a powerful car bomb blast in February 2005.
