Young people on scooters blocking a road in Beirut, after an incident in Saqiet el-Janzir involving State Security. (Credit: Markazia agency)
BEIRUT — he case over the April 25 security incident in Saqiet al-Janzir, Beirut — linked to State Security agents’ arrest of generator operator Hassan Itani over alleged excessive pricing — is now before chief military investigative judge Ghada Abu Alouane.
The raid carried out by State Security in this Sunni neighborhood of the capital escalated into clashes between the patrol and local residents. A service agent then fired shots into the air to disperse Itani’s supporters, who had violently intervened to prevent his arrest.
The government commissioner at the Military Court, Claude Ghanem, has referred the case to Judge Abu Alouane, initiating public legal action against members of both parties involved and pursuing charges against two officers for failure to fulfill military duties.
The first is the head of the "strike force" within State Security, Mohammad Chreim, as well as the chief of the operation conducted on the ground. According to our information, the latter had contacted Chreim while he and several State Security agents were in front of the cafe where Itani was seated with numerous people.
He informed him that his team and he seemed to have been spotted despite being in civilian clothes. The strike force chief ordered him to continue the operation but asked him to wait until the number of people around Itani decreased after leaving the café.
However, even with a reduced group, there remained a significant risk that the arrest would spark unrest or endanger the agents as well as those present. A judicial source states, in this context, that a law requires those responsible to carefully assess the circumstances of an operation so as not to endanger the agents or the person targeted.
In addition to these two officers, a security agent is also being prosecuted because he is suspected of having fired multiple times during the arrest. Judge Ghanem ordered that he be placed in provisional detention, while his two superiors have been released.
Itani and another civilian who was with him also remain free. They are being prosecuted for violent resistance against security agents while they were performing their duties. The five defendants will now have to wait for the outcome of the investigation that Judge Abu Alouane will open soon. At the conclusion, it will be decided for each of them either to be exonerated or to have charges filed that would refer them to the military court.
