Lebanon detains leaders of outlaw party that calls for killing Palestinians
The Lebanese authorities detained three leaders of the Christian extremist "Hurras al-Arz" (the guards of cedar) party.
Judicial sources said that one attorney ordered the detention of Habib Younis, Naji Odeh and Joseph Khouri Touk over accusing them of violating legal articles and damaging relations with the Arab states.
The detention of the three men in the banned party in Lebanon came after they had held a press conference on Tuesday attended by few number of journalists in which they called for the "expulsion of the Palestinians and confiscation of their properties."
During the conference, the party circulated CDs calling on every and each Lebanese to kill one Palestinian. The Lebanese daily Assafir said that two mottos of the party during the civil war ( 1975- 1990) were mentioned in the CDs. They are "no one Palestinian will be left in Lebanon. And every one Lebanese should kill a Palestinian."
Al-Jazeera satellite TV said the the group calls for the withdrawal of Lebanon from the Arab League.
She added that Atyan Saqer, the leader of the party, fled to Israel with members of the South Lebanon Army militia, which was led by Antoine Lahd, following the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from South Lebanon in May 2000.
She added that there are warrant of arrests against him in Lebanon and sentences in absentia were also issued against him for being an agent to Israel.
She added that one of the arrested men is Habib Younis. A journalist who worked with al-Hayat paper, and he was arrested years ago under the charge of cooperating with Israel and was released later.
Worthy mentioning that this party was established during the Lebanese civil war but remained quite for 15 years and during the civil war. Rightist Christian parties including The Cedars Guards allied themselves with Israel to expel the armed Palestinian groups which established strong presence in Lebanon since the beginning of the 1970s.
This party resurfaced again after Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon under international pressures in April following the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The first statement was issued by this group in August in which it criticized the campaign against those who collaborate with Israel.