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Trial of Lebanese Trio Accused Of Terror Plot in Nigeria to Resume

Marlene Khalifeh

On Sept. 30, the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, will resume the trial of the three Lebanese men arrested last May forsmuggling weapons into Nigeria to target Israeli interests. The three men are Mustafa Fawaz, Abdullah Tehini and Talal Rida.

Nigerian papers have recently published articles revealing details of a harsh interrogation for the three Lebanese men an thehands of Arabic-speaking Israeli Mossad agents. Tehini told the judges that he was fainting because he had been deprived ofsleep for five days. Fawaz said that no Nigerian official was present during his 14-day interrogation by six Israeli Mossad agents.

Since the start of August, the Arab press has focused on suspect Talal Ridas confession during his interrogation. He confessedthat he and a number of young men who, according to the indictment, belong to Hezbollah, had kept watch on the Saudiembassy in Abuja. But none of the papers clarified that Rida was talking about events in the 1990s, not recently, according to aLebanese emigrant-affairs official who works in Nigeria.

The Lebanese community was surprised by this confession, which is still unsubstantiated. Even Ridas lawyer didnt expect it.That has raised questions about the high-profile affair, especially among the Lebanese community, which is historically rootedand economically active in Nigeria.

There are about 25,000 Lebanese expatriates living in Lagos, Abuja and Kano. The Lebanese presence in Nigeria goes back to1885 with the arrival of Elias Khoury Younes from Hmais.

As we await the trials resumption, a prominent Lebanese emigrant-affairs official in Nigeria told As-Safir, The Lebanesecommunity is under the law and rejects false accusations. The Lebanese want nothing but good for this country, which in turnhas been extremely good toward them, and so they are keen to maintain their good reputation.

Are the Lebanese being hounded?

The Abuja incident has once again shed light on the Lebanese immigrants in Africa, where nearly 250,000 Lebanese people live,most of them in west African countries. A new immigration wave started 30 years ago. It has spread to the countries of East

Africa, such as Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. The Lebanese communities in these countries areprosperous, with Lebanese investments in Africa amounting to about $45 billion, second only to the Chinese with $75 billion.

Lebanese officials said that Lebanese expatriates in Africa are being harassed. But are they being harassed or systematicallyhounded? About 70% of the Lebanese in Africa are Shiites. Most of them are from South Lebanon, and they support theresistance. According to the United States, which is influential in Africa, that resistance is Hezbollah-led terrorism.

"There is no systematic and widespread hounding against the Lebanese, as some portray it. But there are old decisions made bythe US Treasury that accuse several Lebanese of transferring money to Hezbollah or of money laundering," said the emigrant-affairs official. "Similar decisions were made by a few African countries, notably Togo, Benin, Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria,against Lebanese persons. Some are prominent figures and some, but very few, are Hezbollah officials. The rest have nothing todo with Hezbollah."

The official said, The number of detainees dropped from 25 to 15. Their money was frozen. The rest were released and thereare mediations with them to convince them not to file lawsuits seeking compensation for the moral and material harm that theysuffered.

Two months ago, those facts prompted the Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry to contact the ambassadors of the countries inquestion to clarify matters.

The above Lebanese official said, Lebanese people are appreciated in African countries and are a pillar in building the economy.During Lebanese President Michel Suleimans visit to Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, in March, Ivorian President AlassaneOuattara told him that Lebanese companies employ 350,000 Ivorian citizens while the states institutions have no more than150,000 employees and that the annual taxes paid by the Lebanese are more than $1 billion. The Lebanese produce 15% ofthe GDP.

Amid this confusion about Lebanese expatriates in Africa, some have said that the African Union will follow the European Unionsexample and include Hezbollah on its terrorism list. On that, a Lebanese diplomat in an African country linked to the current crisissaid, We are not aware that the African Union has a terrorism list. Moreover, any decision must be unanimous by the 52countries. And this is impossible because several countries including South Africa reject [including Hezbollah on a terrorismlist].

But the diplomat, who declined to be identified, expects further restrictions on Lebanese expatriates in Africa with regard tofunds transfers and the issuance of visas to and from Europe. This comes as a result of the EU decision to include what it calledHezbollahs military wing on its terror list. The anti-Lebanese harassment may increase due to the close African-Europeancoordination, he said.

The emigrant-affairs official said, On that issue, political matters are being mixed with humanitarian matters because of theproblem that the resistance [represents toward] Israel. So [they are trying] to hit [the resistance] within its [support base]. Herelayed the words of African security officials on how the authorities are identifying the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese: throughpersonal Facebook accounts showing pictures of weapons and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

The Lebanese official explained to the African official that displaying weapons is how the Lebanese celebrate their heritage. Theydisplay weapons in their homes, but that doesnt mean that they are terrorists or Hezbollah soldiers. They live in Africa in peaceand are sympathetic to the resistance. The Lebanese official concluded by saying, With time, many of these allegations arebeing revealed as false, as happened with the Lebanese Canadian Bank, which was finally shown to have been innocent of theUS Treasurys charges. Therefore, false charges are unacceptable, because they are political in nature. The Lebanese statedoesnt cover any lawbreaker nor does it try to destabilize the security of African countries. But we also do not accept to be

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made victims. We trust the African countries and their presidents, who have a high national sentiment.

This article was first published in Arabic on 8/15/2013. Read original article.

The English content was translatedbyAl-Monitor. All rights reserved.

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