The Judicial Council, headed by Judge Fadi Sawan, adjourned the penultimate session in the “Batadayi crime” case to Friday, January 16th, to resume pleadings in the case that dates back to November 2014, in which Sobhi Fakhri and his wife Nadima were killed.
Seven detainees are being tried in this case, in addition to one person who was released, and eight fugitives from justice, against the backdrop of events that occurred during the army’s pursuit of an armed group, by land and air, while they were trying to steal cars in the town of Batadayi.
In today’s session, the Council heard the statements of detainees who were arrested during the period when the Council’s work was suspended, while hearing the testimony of eight witnesses was waived after confirming their presence outside Lebanese territory, which necessitated the postponement of the session.
This decision aroused the discontent of the detainees, who stated that they “were promised that today’s session would be the last after ten years of their arrest.” One of them added, objecting: “We are not a gang… we are a large clan and we are being tried because we are from the Al Jaafar family.”
The detainee Hussein Saadallah Jaafar denied any connection to the incident, and explained that he fled to Al-Yamouna, then to Boudai, before settling in the Al-Shrawneh neighborhood in 2015. He confirmed that his relationship with his fugitive brother, Mohammad Jaafar, is “normal,” and stressed that he does not know of his leadership of an armed group, noting that he works in growing potatoes and onions in the Iaat plain.
He pointed out that the wanted persons in the Al-Shrawneh neighborhood “are waiting to settle their situations,” and that the raids target them based on judicial delegations. He explained that he and others used to resort to Syria “when the siege tightened,” where they would stay with a notable of the clan and then return after a while.
He denied his involvement in carrying out the crime or in hiding cars in an abandoned station in Iaat, stating: “We do not bear arms against the state, but the nature of the area requires it due to the presence of bandits.”
As for the detainee Ali Malek Jaafar, he stated that he was at his home in Al-Dar Al-Wasa’a during the raid, and that he was not arrested at that time. He added that he learned about the incident from the town’s residents, noting that he has no criminal record and that he does not own a weapon, and that his house is far from the house of the fugitive defendant Qazhaya Jaafar. After mentioning that he is illiterate and works in the Al-Yamouna water department, the head of the Council commented in surprise: “How did they employ you… I don’t know.”
In addition to those who were interrogated, the list of defendants in the case includes the following names: Ali Yassin Jaafar, Ali Mohammad Salim Jaafar, Ali Khaled Jaafar, Hamdan Ali Sobhi Jaafar, Ali Mohammad Jahjah Jaafar, and the released Makhoul Fares.
As for the fugitives from justice, they are: Mohammad Saadallah Jaafar, Qazhaya Yassin Jaafar, Hassan Mohammad Jaafar, Ghazi Mahmoud Jaafar, Hadi Fadi Jaafar, Sobhi Mohammad Jaafar, Hussein Seifo Sharif, and Ali Hussein Aassi.
