DEARBORN, Mich. — Federal agents have arrested a man the Irish government calls a suspect in the abduction, torture and killing of two Irish soldiers serving as United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon 34 years ago.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesdsay arrested Mahmoud Bazzi at his home in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. The agency arrested Bazzi for “administrative immigration violations” and not directly in connection to the killings in Lebanon, spokeswoman Gillian Christensen told The Associated Press. She said he would be held “pending removal proceedings.”
While not specifically citing the accusations against Bazzi in his native Lebanon, Gillian said the Department of Homeland Security “is committed to rooting out alleged human rights violators who seek a safe haven in the United States.”
“ICE’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center investigates human rights violators who try to evade justice by seeking shelter in the United States, including those who have participated in war crimes and acts of genocide, torture, the use of child soldiers and extrajudicial killings,” she said in an email.
Before his arrest, Bazzi denied killing Derek Smallhorne and Thomas Barrett, telling the Detroit Free Press he once falsely confessed to the slayings because he feared a Lebanese militia would kill him unless he lied.
“I am innocent,” he said. “I had nothing to do with that.”
Irish Defense Minister Simon Coveney welcomed Bazzi’s arrest and said Ireland has continually pursued the case with Lebanese and U.S. authorities over the years.
“I hope this is the start of a process to bring to justice the alleged perpetrator of what was a heinous crime, the torture and murder of two innocent Irish peacekeepers,” Coveney said in a statement.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.