Shaker Says Will Only Turn Himself in to 'Just Judiciary', Slams 'Big Criminal' Samaha

W460

Former pop star turned fugitive Islamic militant Fadel Shaker stressed during a TV interview aired on Monday that he will only turn himself in to what he described as a “just judiciary,” reiterating the claim that he was “asleep” when the Abra battle started.

“I truly had the intention to turn myself in because I know that I didn't do anything wrong,” Shaker told MTV.

“I want to turn myself in, but to whom shall I turn myself in?” he asked.

“We do have an upright judiciary and we have just judges who fear God, but let them remove the judges' handcuffs and allow them to issue fair rulings,” Shaker added.

Noting that “politics is confining the judiciary,” the fugitive man referred to the recent controversial release from jail of ex-minister Michel Samaha, who is facing terrorist charges.

“We have seen the example of how they freed the big criminal Michel Samaha,” Shaker said.

“Only God knows what bombings he had been involved in prior to his arrest on charges of smuggling explosives,” he added.

Samaha and Syrian security chief Ali Mamluk had been indicted by Lebanon's judiciary with a conspiracy to smuggle explosives into Lebanon with the aim of staging bombings and assassinating political and religious figures.

“The Lebanese judiciary must acquit me, seeing as the defense minister, (detained Islamist cleric) Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and all the detainees in their custody have all said that I'm innocent. What are they still waiting for?” Shaker asked on Monday.

Shaker, who has been on the run for nearly three years, has repeatedly denied fighting alongside al-Asir's gunmen in the fierce 2013 clashes with the army in the Sidon suburb of Abra. At least 18 soldiers and dozens of gunmen were killed in the gunbattles.

Monday's interview was conducted at a home in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh where Shaker has been residing since the Abra battle. The Lebanese state does not have authority over the country's 12 Palestinian camps.

“We took up arms when we started facing threats, provocations and shootings at the hands of Hizbullah's (Resistance) Brigades,” Shaker told MTV, referring to a Hizbullah-affiliated group.

“All people know the practices of Hizbullah's brigades and how they assault people without any accountability,” he charged.

Shaker also reiterated that he was “asleep” when the Abra battle started and that he had been at odds with al-Asir during that period.

Asked to send a message to the families of the army's dead and wounded, he said : “May God have mercy on the army's martyrs and on our martyrs as well, because a third party wronged against them both, and I had nothing to do with the Abra battle.”

Though he grew to become one of the Arab world's most famous singers, Shaker suffered through a miserable childhood of poverty, which a onetime musician friend says helped lead him down a dark path later in life.

Now in his mid-forties, Shaker was born to a Palestinian mother and Lebanese father.

Born Fadel Shmandur, he began his career as a popular wedding singer who performed from the rooftops of the Ain el-Hilweh camp, an over-crowded and hopeless place.

In his prime, Shaker sang love songs that were instant region-wide hits. He released his first album in the late nineties, and continued to perform until 2011.

Y.R.

Comments 6
Missing cedars 09 February 2016, 13:04

Why are we using samaha example? Why nasrallah is not in jail for destroying Lebanon infrastructure in 2006 due to his orders to interfere with another state regardless if it was Israel and today Syria? All the innocent people killed by the terrorist Israeli jets due to nasrallah orders, what cause have they died for? 2000 people died in 2006 killed by nasrallah orders to kidnap Israeli soldiers, massive state destruction cause by his militia, yet he walks away and goes on tv today.

Thumb Maxx 09 February 2016, 15:02

Because arresting Hasan would be considered an act of war against Iran and Syria, whose Occupation Forces he leads in Lebanon.

Missing cedars 09 February 2016, 13:05

Resistance is cancer to Lebanon.

Thumb Mystic 09 February 2016, 16:54

March 14 is the cancer of Lebanon, and all Salafis within Lebanon too.

Thumb Mystic 09 February 2016, 16:54

bateek is a little salafi, his former username bani7arouf.

Thumb Mystic 09 February 2016, 16:55

I don't believe Samaha is even guilty, when a takfiri salafi such as Shaker calls someone a criminal.

What do you call the criminals that accuses others of being so?
We call them March 14.