Lebanese singer-turned-militant released on bail as a probe into 2013 clashes continues

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese authorities on Wednesday released on bail a pop star-turned-militant who had spent months in jail awaiting a retrial on charges of belonging to an armed group and money laundering, judicial officials said.

Fadel Shaker had surrendered after 12 years on the run last October, giving himself up to the Lebanese military intelligence service after hiding in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near the port city of Sidon.

Shaker had been tried in absentia in 2020, sentenced to 22 years in prison for supporting a “terrorist group” over bloody street clashes that had erupted in 2013 between Sunni militants and Lebanese army soldiers near Sidon.

According to four judicial officials, he paid 500 million Lebanese pounds ($5,500) for bail and was released on Wednesday after being questioned about an array of allegations, including being part of an armed group, funding armed groups, money laundering — and most significantly, taking part in the Sidon clashes.

The cases have not been closed so far as a probe into the allegations continues. The four officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

After his release, Shaker left the military facility in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon's capital, where he was being held, and is now in a rented apartment, the officials said. Shaker and his lawyer did not respond to inquiries about his release and bail.

After he had surrendered in October, the initial sentence was dropped and Shaker was put on retrial in January, under Lebanese law. During the proceedings, he testified that he had been close to Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmed al-Assir and that he had received threats from the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group and supporters of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In 2017, al-Assir was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in the 2013 clashes that killed 18 soldiers, following a trial that lasted two years. The cleric is still on death row.

During his January testimony, Shaker said he had grown distant from al-Assir, and that they had faced disagreements prior to the 2013 clashes. He repeatedly denied taking part in the clashes near Sidon.

However, a video uploaded to YouTube during the 2013 clashes, shows a bearded Shaker calling his enemies pigs and dogs and taunting the military, saying “we have two rotting corpses that we snatched from you yesterday,” referring to two pro-Hezbollah fighters who were killed in the clashes.

The clashes deepened sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Lebanon, their internal political differences inflamed by a raging civil war next door in Syria, where Hezbollah fighters backed Assad's forces against mostly Sunni rebel and militant groups.

Years earlier, Shaker had reached stardom across the Arab world with a smash 2002 hit. His large fanbase was shocked when he showed up in rallies alongside al-Assir and he later said he gave up singing to become close to God.

Still, he released several songs as a fugitive, one together with his son Mohammed last July that went viral across the Arab world.