Two
senior officials of Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces were
freed Friday from four and one-half months of imprisonment
since the army's August crackdown on opposition factions
hostile to Syria's tutelage over Lebanon.
The head of LF students branch Salman Smaha and lawyer
Elie Keyrouz were released on a LL400,000 bail apiece.
They were held on a charge of withholding information
about contacts with Israel allegedly made by Geagea's
jailed political advisor Toufic Hindi.
Another
bail of LL200,000 was set for Smaha's and Keyrouz's
release in connection with charges of attempting to
disturb Lebanon's relations with a "sisterly
country." The reference here is to Syria, which
maintains between 35,000 and 40,000 troops in Lebanon.
The
release left only Hindi from the LF in custody along
with two journalists: Habib Younis of Al Hayat and
Antoine Bassil of MBC. They are all accused of making
contacts with Israel for a drive to oust Syria from
Lebanon.
