Fadl Shaker and Ahmad al-Assir's hearing postponed to Jan. 9

A public hearing for Lebanese singer turned Salafist — turned Lebanese singer again — Fadl Shaker, and Islamist preacher Ahmad al-Assir, initially scheduled for Monday morning, was postponed after the two defendants were not brought to the Beirut Criminal Court from their detention centers, a judicial source told L'Orient Today.

It is often the case that logistical issues — such as a lack of funds for filling vehicles with gas, or to procure a vehicle in the first place — will get in the way of smooth court proceedings in Lebanon, where the state has limited resources.

The hearing was meant to have focused on the case of the attempted assassination of Hilal Hammoud, an affiliate of Hezbollah, in 2013, and would have marked the first face-to-face meeting between Shaker and Assir since the latter's detention. Assir was sentenced to death — although Lebanon has not carried out any executions since 2004 — for fighting the Lebanese Army in Abra in 2013. The clashes resulted in 29 people killed, including 18 soldiers.

The next hearing was set by the president of the criminal court, Bilal Dennaoui, for Friday, Jan. 9.

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Shaker was convicted in absentia in 2020 and sentenced to 22 years in prison for supporting and financing Assir's group. For 12 years, Shaker was in hiding, holed up in Ain al-Hilweh, the Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Saida. On Oct. 5, a few months after a wildly successful return to music, Shaker turned himself in to Lebanese authorities.