US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker has denied pressuring the Lebanese government or making promises to secure the release of a former member of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) accused of torture.
Amer Fakhoury was released on Monday over a statute of limitations on his crimes in southern Lebanon’s Khiam prison, though put under a travel ban.
Fakhoury left the country in a helicopter from the US embassy in Awkar heading to an unknown destination.
“No deals were made. No promises were made. We did not promise money, we did not promise to release prisoners, we did not promise not to designate any Lebanese officials, and we absolutely don’t talk to Hezbollah,” Schenker said on Friday during a special briefing on developments in the Middle East.
He was responding to a question on whether the Trump administration had put pressure on the Lebanese government to release Fakhoury, or whether it gave the authorities in Beirut any financial or economic incentives.
Fakhoury was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma and had been hospitalized in Lebanon.
He had been accused of torturing prisoners at the Khiam prison run by the Israeli-backed SLA two-decades ago. He had been imprisoned since September after returning to Lebanon to visit family.
Fakhoury was ordered to be released Monday because more than 10 years had passed since the torture of prisoners. But he was not immediately allowed to leave the country after a Lebanese military judge on Tuesday appealed the decision, asking a military tribunal to strike down the decision to free Fakhoury.
Hezbollah has said it would be more honorable for the judges involved to resign rather than "succumb to the pressures that led to this decision".
Several parties have claimed that the release was part of a deal between Lebanon and the US government not to implement US sanctions on non-Shiite pro-Hezbollah personalities.
On Friday, the head of the military tribunal resigned over the criticism.
