Beirut - The trial of four Lebanese suspects charged with a
failed German train bombing attempt failed to convene Tuesday amid
the tense security situation in the country, judicial sources said.
Fawaz Zakariyeh, the lawyer of Jihad Hamad, one of the main
suspects, told Deutsche presse-Agentur dpa 'the court was not in
session today due to the violence taking place in northern Lebanon
and Beirut.
'I cannot say if the court will set a date today but all I can say
(is) the court was not in session today due to the security situation
in the country,' he said without elaborating.
At a hearing last month, the defence demanded that the trial be
moved to the northern port city of Tripoli, arguing that the
suspects' families couldn't afford travel expenses to Beirut, a two-
hour drive away.
The request was rejected by presiding Judge Michel Abou Arraj who
did not give any grounds for the decision. The defence then decided
to appeal the ruling.
However, court officials have said security concerns, including
the possibility of an attack to free the suspects, prompted
authorities to hold the four in the country's main maximum security
prison and to have the court sit in the Lebanese capital.
Along with Hamad, the three other suspects on trial and held in
police custody are Ayman Hawa, Khalil al-Boubou and Khaled al-Haj
dib.
Two other Lebanese suspects were being tried in absentia. Youssef
al-Haj dib is under arrest in Germany, and his brother, Saddam, who
was killed on Sunday during clashes between the Lebanese army and an
alleged al-Qaeda group called Fatah al-Islam in northern Lebanon.
Lebanese authorities arrested the suspects on charges for
allegedly planting crude bombs on two trains at the Cologne station
on July 31, 2006.
The bombs, found later in the day on trains at the Koblenz and
Dortmund stations, failed to explode because of faulty detonators.
German surveillance cameras are said to have filmed the suspects as
they wheeled suitcases into the station.
Judicial sources say Germany wants the men extradited to stand
trial in Germany, but there is no extradition treaty between the two
countries. Lebanon has decided to try the suspects in its courts.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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