Military Court of Appeals Challenges Hajj-Ghabash Ruling

State Commissioner to the Military Court of Appeals Ghassan al-Khoury on Monday filed an appeal before the court against the Military Court's controversial acquittal of Lt. Col. Suzanne al-Hajj in the Ziad Itani case.

The National News Agency said Khoury called for a retrial of al-Hajj and the hacker Elie Ghabash and for considering the verdicts as null and void.

"He asked for Lt. Col. Hajj's conviction and for revoking the commutation granted to Ghabash, in coordination with acting State Prosecutor Judge Imad Qabalan," NNA added.

"The (Military) Court of Appeals has therefore become in charge of the lawsuit," the agency said.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Peter Germanos had earlier in the day referred Hajj's file to Khoury.

On Thursday, the Military Court acquitted Hajj and sentenced Ghabash to a year in prison on charges of fabricating electronic evidence to frame the actor Ziad Itani in a spying for Israel case.

Several political parties have described the ruling that acquitted al-Hajj as politicized, suggesting that Free Patriotic Movement officials had pressured the court in order to settle scores with al-Mustaqbal Movement, Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Imad Othman and the ISF's Intelligence Branch.