A man suspected of killing three army soldiers was turned over to the military judiciary Wednesday, and faces murder charges that could carry the death penalty.
Military magistrate Riad Talih pressed charges against Badih Hamadeh and his fiancee, Suheir Said, and three others for their roles in the killings.
Hamadeh’s holdout in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp ended Tuesday with his handover to authorities.
Four others, who are not in custody, were named in Talih’s brief. State Prosecutor Adnan Addoum said Wednesday that the investigations would continue, to determine whether there was a link between Hamadeh, also known as Abu Obeida, and the February assassination of former minister and MP Elie Hobeika, the 1999 murder of four judges in Sidon, and a series of bombings targeting a church and a number of liquor-selling establishments.
Addoum said the mother of Hamadeh’s fiancee was arrested because she tried to prevent an army officer from shooting Hamadeh, thereby allowing him to shoot the army officer.
The shootout between the army and Hamadeh took place Thursday night near his home in the Hamshari area of Sidon, near Ain al-Hilweh.
On Tuesday evening, Addoum denied a media report that four individuals wanted in connection with the Dinnieh clashes between the army and Islamic militants in January 2000 had also surrendered from the camp where they were being sheltered. Ad-Diyar reported Tuesday that four people suspected of participating in the clashes and having taken refuge at the camp were turned over to the authorities.
Asked why the army did not initially send one of its commando units to arrest Ham-adeh, instead of the parole that exchanged fire with him, Addoum said such a unit was standing by and thought the patrol could arrest Hamadeh.
As for two government informants who have been detained, Addoum said investigators wanted to determine if they warned Hamadeh about the botched army raid.

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