Berri 'Upset' with How Samaha was Released from Jail

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed his disappointment over the manner in which former Minister Michel Samaha was released from jail after he was arrested on terrorism charges, reported various media on Saturday.

His visitors quoted him as saying that the Military General Prosecution “should have awaited the verdict” before releasing the former minister.

He is also upset that the issue of military appointments is hindering cabinet from meeting, added the visitors.

Samaha was released from jail on Thursday after being arrested in 2012 after he was caught red-handed smuggling explosives from Syria for the purpose of carrying out bombings and assassinations in Lebanon.

He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail.

The release sparked a wave of anger in Lebanon against the military court, most notably among the March 14 alliance.

Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri deemed the release a “shame and scandal,” vowing that he will not remain silent over the issue.

Demonstrators on Friday blocked a number of roads in Beirut in protest against the release, while the March 14 youth groups staged a rally in front of Samaha's residence in Ashrafieh.

Samaha, who was information minister from 1992 to 1995, was released in exchange for a bail payment of 150 million Lebanese pounds ($100,000), according the text of the Military Court's judgment.

Under his bail conditions, Samaha, 67, would be barred from leaving the country for at least one year, speaking to the press or using social media.

Samaha, a former adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad, admitted during his trial that he had transported the explosives from Syria for use in attacks in Lebanon.

But he argued he should be acquitted because he was a victim of entrapment by a Lebanese security services informer – Milad Kfoury.