Who is Fadel Shaker? Lebanese pop star released on bail 

Lebanese authorities have granted bail to Fadel Shaker, the pop star accused of joining a rebel group, who spent months in jail while being retried on charges of belonging to an armed group and money laundering.

Judicial officials said he made a 500 million Lebanese pounds ($5,500) bail payment and was released on Wednesday after being questioned about an array of allegations. These included being part of an armed group, funding armed groups, money laundering – and, most significantly, taking part in the Sidon clashes between government troops and followers of a Sunni Muslim sheikh in 2013.

The judicial officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Here is more about Shaker and why he was in prison:

Who is Fadel Shaker?

The Lebanese fifty-seven year old grew up, according to media reports, near the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

In 1998, he released Wallah Zaman, his first album of eight songs, which was followed by subsequent albums over the following decade.

Known as a “prince of romance”, he became hugely popular in the Arab world. Big hits such as ‘Ya Ghayeb’ propelled him to regional stardom and music festivals he played at regularly sold out.

In 2012, he shocked fans by retiring from his singing career on religious grounds – saying it was “sinful” – and is then accused of joining an armed group led by hardline Sunni leader Ahmed al-Assir.

Shaker exchanged his popular love songs for religious hymns, which he performed at rallies in support of al-Assir.

Al-Assir was famous for his fiery rhetoric against the administration in Syria, where civil war was raging, and also his denouncement of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement, for being an ally of Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad.

In 2013, 18 Lebanese soldiers and between 25 and 40 of al-Assir’s fighters were killed in clashes in the Abra neighbourhood of the port city of Sidon. Supporters of al-Assir had opened fire on a military checkpoint and fighting continued through the night.

Shaker was accused of being one of the Sunni fighters.

A viral video at the time showed him saying: “We sent home two corpses for you yesterday,” a reference to two pro-Hezbollah fighters who had been killed.

What happened to him?

Shaker was tried in absentia in 2020 when Lebanon’s military tribunal sentenced him to a total of 22 years in prison. That included 15 years’ hard labour for his “involvement in terrorist acts committed by terrorists, with his knowledge of the matter by providing logistical services to them”, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported at the time. It also included seven years in prison for financing al-Assir’s group.

While Shaker admits he was an al-Assir supporter, he denies involvement in the Sidon clashes.

Al-Assir, who was arrested in 2015 while attempting to flee Lebanon, was first sentenced to death in 2017, and was separately sentenced to 20 years’ hard labour in 2021.

Last October, Shaker surrendered to police. Authorities dropped the previous sentences after his surrender, and Shaker then went on trial in January. Proceedings are understood to be ongoing.

In the months leading up to his surrender in October, Shaker released several new, chart-topping songs. He recorded them in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, where he is thought to have been hiding for the past 12 years and where he is understood to have grown up.

Lebanese security forces tended not to enter that camp, allowing Shaker to avoid arrest.

What happens next?

According to the four judicial officials who spoke to AP, Shaker left the military facility near Beirut and moved to a rented apartment.

Four cases against him are ongoing, the judicial officials said. These are understood to include allegations of taking part in the formation of an armed group, funding armed groups and money laundering.