SIDON, Lebanon: Sheikh Jamal Khattab, spiritual leader of Islamist factions in Sidon’s Ain al-Hilweh, said Sunday that terror suspect and wanted fugitive Shadi Mawlawi had left the camp, providing the first official confirmation of the news after it emerged over the weekend.
“Mawlawi’s case is a political one,” Khattab said during a protest of the families of Palestinian prisoners in Roumieh Prison in front of the camp’s Joint Security Forces headquarters. “[The case] was resolved in the north [Tripoli] and in the same way in Ain al-Hilweh camp.”
It is not yet known how and from where he left Ain al-Hilweh, but according to rumors circulating in the camp, he was on his own – i.e. not with his partner in crime Osama Mansour, the location of whom remains unknown.
Mawlawi’s exit from Ain al-Hilweh is believed to have happened at the same time that negotiations were taking place over the weekend between Lebanese officials and factions from the camp over how to extricate him from his hiding place, according to a Palestinian source who has been following the talks.
There will not be an official announcement about Mawlawi’s departure from groups in the camp, one source said. Instead, the fugitive is expected to issue a statement, a voice recording or even a video from outside of Ain al-Hilweh.
A statement purporting to be from Shabab al-Muslim, an Islamist group with particularly strong ties to Mawlawi, that was distributed in Ain al-Hilweh Saturday called on Mawlawi and Mansour to quickly provide proof they are outside the camp so as to defuse tensions and anger directed at the Palestinians over the matter. It is not clear why Mansour was mentioned in the flyer.
According to a security source in the camp, Mawlawi’s suspected residence in Ain al-Hilweh was calm Sunday, leading the majority of Palestinian officials in the camp to suspect he had left. “There are no lights in the house, and there are no gunmen gathered around it,” the source said.
Not all Palestinian factions were willing to confirm Mawlawi’s absence, however.
The Islamist group Osbat al-Ansar said it would not make an official statement on the issue until it had factual proof he was no longer in the camp, and warned of the possibility Mawlawi might have moved from one area in the camp to another.
Mawlawi fled Tripoli after the Lebanese Army cracked down on Islamist militants in the northern city in October.
He was wanted for his alleged links to the perpetrators of a Jan. 10 double suicide bombing in Jabal Mohsen district killed at least nine people and wounded more than 30.
He was also wanted in connection to a series of suicide bombing plots that were foiled by the Army.
Ain al-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps, was being closely monitored following the attack on Jabal Mohsen, and his presence there was confirmed after he was found to be connected to the bombers.
The news comes two days after Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah Movement’s Central Committee, held talks with Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk detailing the readiness of the Palestinian factions to cooperate with Lebanese authorities in finding a peaceful solution to the problem of fugitive criminals being sheltered in the camp.
Talks on the issue are being led by a mini-committee that was formed by the Higher Palestinian Security Committee – which polices the entire camp, and also involve representatives of the Islamist factions there.
It appears that the Palestinian factions, led by the Islamist groups, succeeded in convincing Shabab al-Muslim of the need for Mawlawi to go in order to avoid a large security crackdown by the Lebanese Army.
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