Fadl Shaker, a popular singer born to a Palestinian mother and a Lebanese father, was accused of participating in 2013 clashes in Sidon, southern Lebanon, involving the radical sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and his supporters against the Lebanese army, in which 17 soldiers were killed.
A supporter of Ahmad al-Assir, Shaker denied any involvement in the clashes and hid in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Saida, the largest in the country, escaping Lebanese authority control.
Ahmad al-Assir was sentenced to death in 2017 for “terrorism.”
In 2020, a Lebanese military tribunal sentenced Shaker to 22 years in prison for providing financial and logistical support to the “terrorist” group led by Assir.
“Fadl Shaker surrendered to the Lebanese army at the entrance of the Ain al-Hilweh camp before the conclusion of his judicial process,” a judicial source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) today.
Due to a long-standing convention, the Lebanese army stays out of Palestinian camps and allows Palestinian factions to manage security.
A source close to Shaker told AFP that the singer, who continues to claim “innocence,” is “confident in the independence of justice, which will do him justice this time.”
In July, while still on the run, Fadl Shaker released a song that topped sales in the Arab world. The music video, filmed in Ain al-Hilweh, garnered over 113 million views on YouTube.
