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| Trial begins for Marine who deserted the military twice |
| 2015-02-10 |
| The US military on Monday began the court-martial of a Lebanese-born Marine who is accused of deserting the military in Iraq in 2004 before turning up in Lebanon claiming to have been kidnapped and then deserting again the following year. Corporal Wassef Hassoun, 35, is being tried at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on charges of desertion, destruction of government property and larceny, according to the Marine Corps. The former Arabic language interpreter was listed as a deserter for nearly a decade before being taken into custody last year. The Marine Corps said Hassoun first deserted the military in June 2004, when he vanished from his base in Iraq. He reappeared a month later in Lebanon and claimed that he had been kidnapped by militants, the military said. Military investigators accused him of taking unauthorized leave from his unit. But before the start of military legal proceedings against him, Hassoun failed to report for duty at Camp Lejeune in January 2005, fled the United States and again went to Lebanon, the Marines said. Hassoun's trial is scheduled to last about two weeks. He could face up to 29 years in prison if found guilty on all counts, said Captain Stewart Coles, a base spokesman. |
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| Home Front: WoT |
| Vanishing U.S.-Lebanese Marine will be Tried on Desertion Charge |
| 2014-09-28 |
| [AnNahar] A Lebanese-born U.S. Marine who vanished from his unit in Iraq and later wound up in Leb for eight years will face trial on desertion and other charges, the military said Friday. Maj. Gen. William D. Beydler has referred 34-year-old Cpl. Wassef Hassoun for a general court-martial on charges of desertion, larceny and destruction of government property, according to a news release from the Marines. No date has been set for Hassoun's trial at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where he is being held. The case began in June 2004, when Hassoun disappeared from a base in Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperityor a really nice place to raise your kids... Iraq. About a week later, he appeared in a photo purportedly taken by bully boys. Hassoun was blindfolded and had a sword poised above his head. Hassoun, a naturalized American citizen who was born and grew up in Leb, turned up days later at the U.S. Embassy in Leb saying he was kidnapped by holy warriors. But the military doubted his story, and he was brought back to the U.S. while charges were considered. He was allowed to visit relatives in Utah in December 2004 when he disappeared again -- eventually winding up back in Leb. Defense attorney Haytham Faraj argues that Hassoun was prevented from leaving for years by Lebanese authorities and came back to the U.S. after travel restrictions were lifted. Faraj, himself a former Marine, said he's seen many similar cases dating to the Vietnam era in which the desertion charge was changed to unauthorized absence, and service members were given administrative punishment. To prove desertion, the military must show a serviceman intended not to come back. "The intent to remain permanently away isn't there," Faraj said. "Here we have a clear case of a person who came back." Faraj has said the report by the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing notes that the case consists mostly of circumstantial evidence and that many witnesses, including some in Iraq, would be hard to find. Military prosecutors argue Hassoun was unhappy with his deployment and left the Marines in Iraq in 2004. They cited witnesses who said Hassoun didn't like how the U.S. was interrogating Iraqis and that he said he wouldn't shoot back at Iraqis. Military officials say a marriage for Hassoun had been arranged with a woman in Leb. They are now married and have a son who has dual U.S. and Lebanese citizenship. Faraj, who maintains the kidnapping story is true, has said his client traveled to Leb in early 2005 while on leave and was soon locked away Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! . Faraj argues that court proceedings in Leb were triggered by the U.S. charges against Hassoun. Marine prosecutors say Hassoun's whereabouts were unknown for eight years. He was returned to the U.S. in 2014 after he contacted officials here. Translated Lebanese government documents provided to the court say Hassoun was arrested in 2005 by Lebanese authorities after Interpol issued a bulletin triggered by his status as a deserter. The documents, which the defense also gave to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, say Lebanese authorities released him but took his passport and prevented him from traveling. The documents indicate that Lebanese officials declined to extradite Hassoun and he was eventually fined for theft of military tools -- a charge that mirrors the U.S. larceny count. |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Lebanon refuses to extradite Hezbollah suspects to the US | ||
| 2006-02-26 | ||
| BEIRUT - Lebanon has refused to extradite to the United States four suspected Shia Hezbollah members believed to have carried out attacks against Americans in Beirut during the 1980s, judicial sources said on Saturday. They said Lebanese authorities refused to extradite four Lebanese: Imad Moughaniyeh, Hassan Ezzeddine, Ali Atwe and Mohammed ali Hamadeh. Local media said that during her visit to Beirut earlier this week US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had made the demand to Prime Minister Foaud Seniora. Three of the four wanted Lebanese - Moughaniyeh, Ezzeddine and Atwe - are accused of participation in a 1983 attack on US Marines headquarter in Beirut in which more than 100 Marines were killed. The fourth Mohammed Hamadeh, who returned to Lebanon in December after he finished serving his jail sentence in Germany for possessing explosives, is accused by the United States of the 1985 highjacking of a TWA airliner during which a US Navy diver was killed.
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