Geagea Hails Asir's Arrest despite his Disguise 'while Known Killers Run Free'
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea praised on Sunday the security agencies for their arrest of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, deeming it a “major achievement.”
He wondered however: “How is it that Asir was arrested, despite his full disguise and fake passport, while the same agencies have failed to arrest the killers of Hashem al-Salman and Sobhi and Nadimeh Fakhri even though they never wore a disguise?”
He made his observations via his Twitter account.
“How is it that these same agencies have not been able to stop street, drug, and kidnapping gangs in the Bekaa region even though they are well-known and are free to roam the country?” continued Geagea.
Asir was arrested at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport on Saturday as he attempted to leave the country to Nigeria through Egypt.
He was using a fake Palestinian passport and had underwent a number of plastic surgeries and was dressed as a woman to alter his appearance.
The firebrand anti-Hizbullah cleric is wanted for his involvement in the clashes against the army in the southern city of Sidon in 2013.
Salman was killed in 2013 in a scuffle between supporters of Hizbullah and protesters near the Iranian embassy in Beirut.
The demonstrators were holding a sit-in near the embassy to protest Hizbullah's involvement in the war raging in Syria.
Sobhi Fakhri and his wife Nadimeh were killed in 2014 in a crime committed by fugitives from al-Jaafar clan in the Baalbek town of Btedei.
The gunmen were fleeing raids carried out by the Lebanese army in the Dar al-Wasaa area when they entered the Fakhri house with the intent of taking their vehicle.
The family refused to meet the demands of the armed men, which prompted them to shoot the couple and their son.
None of the perpetrators in the crimes have been arrested.
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