Tarras Says General Security Wrongfully Accused Him of 'Meeting IS Members in Turkey'

General Security interrogators accused Muslim cleric Sheikh Bassam al-Tarras of meeting Islamic State members during his latest visit to Turkey, media reports said on Tuesday.

“Tarras says the interrogators questioned him about his visit to Turkey and accused him of meeting IS members in the hotel in a bid to frame him,” the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper reported.

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat meanwhile said the cleric was arrested “after his number was found on the cellphones of some members of the cell that was apprehended by the General Security on charges of carrying out the Ksara bombing.”

“During interrogation, the detainees said they were attending the cleric's religious lectures,” al-Hayat added.

Later on Tuesday, state-run National News Agency said Tarras was released after State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Hani Helmi al-Hajjar questioned him and verified that he did not confess to having any ties to the bombing.

Hajjar also determined that the detainees did not confess against Tarras during the General Security investigations, contrary to the previous reports, NNA added.

“In light of these developments and after listening to Tarras' testimony at the General Security building, Judge Hajjar ordered his release pending further investigations,” the agency said.

Tarras, a former member of the influential Muslim Scholars Committee, was interrogated on Sunday and freed on Monday following protests by the committee and a number of Islamic activists.

The MSC had also issued a strongly worded statement against the General Directorate of General Security, demanding the cleric's “immediate release” and threatening judicial follow-up on the case.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper had reported that Tarras “confessed to recruiting the mastermind of the cell that carried out the terrorist attack and securing his communication with a terrorist called Abou al-Baraa.”

The bomb attack left an elderly woman dead and at least ten others wounded. The bomb that was placed at a busy roundabout was likely targeted against AMAL Movement convoys that were carrying supporters to a rally commemorating Imam Moussa al-Sadr in the southern city of Tyre.