Lebanese pop singer Fadel Chaker charged for terrorism, gets 22-year jail sentence
Also gets fine of 5 million Lebanese pounds for funding militant Al Assir group
Cairo: A Lebanese military court has sentenced pop singer Fadel Chaker on terrorism charges to 22 years in prison in absentia, Lebanese media reported Thursday.
The verdict was delivered on two counts, including sentencing Chaker to 15 years in jail on charges of involvement in terrorist acts committed by terrorists by providing logistical services to them.
He was also handed down seven years in prison and a fine of 5 million Lebanese pounds on charges of funding the militant Al Assir group.
The court has ordered the 51-year-old singer be stripped of his civil rights.
The fugitive singer had been earlier convicted in a different case.
Quit music
In September 2017, a Lebanese military court sentenced Chaker to 15 years in prison in absentia after convicting him in connection with a 2013 attack on the Lebanese army that left 18 soldiers dead in the southern city of Sidon.
Chaker started his career in mid-1990s. He was catapulted to fame in 1999 when he released his album “The Seller of Hearts” that earned him the nickname “King of Romance”.
In 2012, he quit his music career on religious grounds and became a follower of Lebanon’s radical cleric Ahmad Al Asir.
He appeared on a local TV station sporting a beard typical of ultra-conservative Salafists. In 2018, Chaker announced his comeback to the music arena.
He has recently released a song in Egyptian dialect titled “Let’s Meet”.