Najjar defends Egypt”s right to prosecute crimes on its territories
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar told Russia al-Yawm television Monday that Egyptian authorities had the right to pursue all crimes committed on its territories and to enforce its law on people and organizations from any country, including Lebanon. He said there was no judicial agreement between Lebanon and Egypt that would allow it to issue a verdict regarding Lebanese presence on Egyptian territories. The minister added that he would urge Lebanese judicial authorities to follow-up on criminal acts.
He explained that Lebanese judicial authorities had the right to pursue those who committed a criminal offense on foreign territories; however, Lebanon had no official file concerning the Hizbullah cell recently discovered in Egypt.
"If Lebanon receives an Egyptian memorandum regarding the issue, the case will be submitted to the Justice Ministry through the Foreign Ministry. The Justice Ministry will then submit it before the prosecutor general”s office," he noted.
Meanwhile, Egypt”s High State Security prosecution continued investigation into the so-called Hizbullah cell.
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper said Monday that interrogation with detained member of the Muslim Brotherhood Nassar Jibril and others belonging to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades uncovered a link between Hizbullah and the two groups.
It quoted an Egyptian security source as saying that the detainees will be referred to trial in the coming days "after enough evidence is established against them."
The source described as "attempts aimed at wasting time" requests filed by the defense attorneys complaining their defendants have only confessed under torture.
Lawyer Montasser al-Zayat, who represented Hizbullah”s Mohammad Youssef Mansour, also known as Sami Shehab, at a weekend hearing, said the investigations were "null and void" since they were conducted at night with each session lasting for more than ten hours each with no regard to the defendant”s "mental and physical state."
"The charges must be nullified since they were extracted under coercion against the defendant, who was jailed for more than five months in an illegal detention center," Zayat said, adding that Mansour was not permitted to meet in private with his lawyer during the interrogation process.
Mansour was among 49 suspects that have been arrested over the past five months and accused of plotting attacks in Egypt on behalf of Hizbullah, a claim the Lebanese group denied, saying Mansour was responsible for helping transport arms to the Gaza Strip.
The sources said investigation also uncovered that the Hizbullah cell has recruited members to work under Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, adding that five key detainees have acknowledged their previous membership in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Two other main suspects in the case identified as Nimr Fahmi and Nasser Abu Omar "have confessed to providing information about five Egyptian towns on the border with Israel to Shehab and a Hizbullah fugitive Mohammed Qabalan," the pan-Arab Ash-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Sunday.
The data included land and population surveys of the five towns in addition to details on hospitals, schools and influential residents.