Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti summoned on Friday US ambassador Dorothy Shea over the return of a naturalized American former militiaman accused of torture to the United States despite a travel ban, state media said.
Amer Fakhoury, a former member of the so-called South Lebanon Army (SLA), went into exile more than two decades ago before returning to Lebanon in September, when he was arrested.
The 57-year-old was released on Monday over a statute of limitations on his alleged crimes, a judicial source said, though put under a travel ban, according to state media.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump hailed Fakhoury's return to the United States, saying he was suffering from late-stage cancer.
On Friday, Hitti asked the US ambassador to explain "the circumstances of Amer Fakhoury being transferred abroad from the US embassy," the National News Agency said.
A security source said on Thursday that Fakhoury left the country in a helicopter from the US embassy heading to an unknown destination, but the embassy did not comment on the report.
When Fakhoury was arrested, a Lebanese security source said he had served as a senior warden in the notorious Khiam prison, opened in 1984 by the SLA after Israel occupied southern Lebanon.
Witnesses accuse Fakhoury of ordering or taking part in beatings of thousands of inmates.
The veteran militiaman's release by a military court on Monday prompted huge criticism on social media.
Hezbollah said it would be more honorable for the judges involved to resign rather that "succumb to the pressures that led to this decision".
On Friday, the head of the military tribunal, Hussein Abdullah, resigned over the criticism.
