(DEARBORN, MI) — A Lebanese man from Dearborn, Mich., accused of kidnapping and killing two Irish United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon in 1980, was deported to Lebanon on Thursday for unrelated offenses.
Mahmoud Bazzi, 72, entered the United States in 1994 and later gave false information in immigration proceedings that led officials to grant him permanent residence status in the United States, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
Officials say Bazzi was sent on a commercial flight to Beirut under escort by immigration enforcement officers and turned over to Lebanese authorities.
Bazzi’s lawyer says his arrest in Lebanon has nothing to do with the UN peacekeepers case, but Irish officials say otherwise.
“I believe that this is a significant step in the pursuit of justice for Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne who lost their lives while on United Nations peacekeeping duty in Lebanon almost 35 years ago,” Irish Minister Simon Coveney said.
Derek Smallhorne Jr., the son of one of the Irish soldiers who was killed in 1980, said he’s delighted” to hear the news.
“It is now up to the Lebanon government to bring this man to justice and to show the world how they deal with cold-blooded murder,” he said.
But Bazzi’s attorney, Fred Ajluni, said his client is innocent and will likely be freed by Lebanese authorities.
American authorities did not specify whether Bazzi would be charged with war crimes, although his past history in Lebanon played a role in the deportation.
“This removal is the culmination of a sophisticated and meticulous investigation by several U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement components,” said Marlon Miller, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit.
The deportation order followed interviews with Steve Hindy, an American journalist who covered the civil war in southern Lebanon, and John O’Mahony, the Irish soldier who survived.
Both men identified Bazzi as the man who abducted them and five other members of a United Nations peacekeeping group in southern Lebanon.