Protesters hold up signs demanding the release of Salafist Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and his companions on Friday, 6 Oct. 2023 in Saida, South Lebanon. (Credit: Muntasser Abdallah/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Radical Salafist Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir supporters gathered on Friday in Saida calling for his and his companions's release, L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the south reported.
Al-Assir is serving a life sentence for his role in deadly clashes against the Lebanese Army in Saida's Abra neighborhood in 2013.
Protesters held up pictures of al-Assir and banners calling for his and his fellow detainees' release. Slogans read “Release Sheikh Ahmed Al-Assir and his companions” and “Stop the injustice against Sunnis.”
One sheikh named Khaled al-Boubou stated in a speech that "al-Assir and his companions were preachers of God who raised their voices to demand an end to the oppression of the Syrian people and rejected the dominance of arms, which led to conspiracies against them.”
Al-Assir was sentenced to death in late September 2017 for leading the Islamists in their June 2013 clashes with the Lebanese Army, which left 18 soldiers and 11 militiamen dead.
Lebanon has not carried out any executions since 2004.
Some of al-Assir's companions were sentenced to 10 years of hard labor. Last August, the military court sentenced al-Assir to 20 years of hard labor for fighting against the Lebanese Army in Bhanine, northern Lebanon, back in 2014.
The cleric was arrested on Aug. 15, 2015 at the Beirut International Airport, while attempting to flee the country in disguise.
Supporters of the sheikh regularly demonstrate in Saida to demand his release.
Reporting contributed by Muntasser Abdallah.