Achraf Rifi says called 'his friend' Fadl Shaker after his release

Tripoli Sunni MP Achraf Rifi said in a statement that he had called his friend, singer Fadl Shaker, "to congratulate him after his release," adding that the former pop star turned Salafist's detention "was the result of a judicial and security process that did not allow for objective justice."

"Large segments of Lebanese society and people residing in Lebanon, notably members of the Sunni community, have paid a heavy price due to failures in the application of justice and the politicization of certain cases, while others have escaped any form of accountability," Rifi said, before condemning all those who contributed to handing down judgments "that I consider to be unjust."

He also expressed hope that a general amnesty law would be passed "to address pending cases and bring justice to all who deserve it, as well as to turn the page on a period that has weighed heavily on Lebanon, during which the Iranian project and its local arms exerted their grip on national decision-making, weakened state institutions, and undermined the concept of justice and the rule of law," in a clear allusion to Hezbollah and its allies.

Released on bail this week, Shaker is being prosecuted in four cases related to his alleged participation in the 2013 Abra clashes near Saida, which pitted supporters of the radical cleric Ahmad al-Assir against the Lebanese Army and left 18 soldiers dead. He was convicted in absentia and sentenced to between five and 15 years of hard labor in those cases while he was on the run.

Assir himself was arrested in 2015 and received a suspended death sentence in 2017 on terrorism charges.