French Delegate says Armed Men Linked to Hizbullah Detained him in Beirut

A French delegate to a Socialist International meeting in Beirut said on Sunday that he had been briefly detained the previous day by armed men linked to Hizbullah.

 

Delegate Karim Pakzad told a Beirut news conference that he was stopped on Saturday by armed men who “spoke on behalf of Hizbullah.”

 

He said they questioned him for five hours before freeing him.

 

Pakzad said it happened as he was touring the capital in an open-top car with a Lebanese friend and taking pictures of a mosque along the airport road, near Hizbullah”s stronghold in Beirut”s southern suburbs.

 

“Armed men asked us “why do you have a camera” and “what are you doing here,”” before viewing the pictures he had taken with his digital camera, Pakzad said.

 

He was taken blindfolded to an unidentified location where he was kept isolated for five hours, adding that his captors took away his cell phone, wallet and medicine.

 

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, who hosted the press conference, said he wished that the government “alone” would be in charge of security and of the war-and-peace decision.

 

Contacted by AFP, Hizbullah said it had no immediate information about the incident.

 

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is Israel”s public enemy number one and the movement operates stringent security measures in its Beirut stronghold requiring even press photographers to seek prior permission.