Lebanon hands over six alleged terrorists to Saudi Arabia

Nov 20, 2009, 12:41 GMT

Beirut - Six Saudis facing terrorism charges in Lebanon will briefly return to their home country at the request of the Saudi government, a Lebanese judicial source said Friday.

The men allegedly participated in bloody gunfights with the Lebanese army at the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al- Bared in 2007.

According to the judicial source, the six belong to the Fatah al- Islam group, which follows the ideology of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

According to the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, the Saudi request came a via letter to Lebanon. It said Riyadh pledged to return the men to Lebanon within 15 days. It is not clear why the men's presence is being requested.

In a related development, Fadi Sawan, a military examining magistrate on Friday questioned 10 Fatah al-Islam suspects who have been charged with membership in a terrorist group.

Sawan questioned Fatah al-Islam member Fadi Ibrahim, known as Sikamo, for four hours and issued an arrest warrant against him.

Sikamo received a second arrest warrant for monitoring United Nations Interim Forces in South Lebanon (UNIFIL) activities in southern Lebanon and plotting to carry out attacks against the peacekeepers.

Fatah al-Islam, which is headed by Palestinian extremist Shaker al-Abssi, emerged in November 2006 when it split from Fatah al- Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon.

It first came to prominence during the refugee camp gunfights in which more than 400 people, including civilians, died. The group's leader and 20 other members managed to escape and are still at large.

Abssi confirmed in 2007 that his Sunni-Muslim militant group backs the aims and ideology of the al-Qaeda terrorist group of fighting and killing non-Muslims, but denied that he has organizational links with Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda.

Fatah al-Islam statements have also appeared on Islamist websites known for publishing al-Qaeda statements.