Michel Samaha

Michel Fuad Samaha is a former minister of information and minister of tourism in Lebanon, and a longtime politician and intelligence operative. Samaha is known for his long and close relationship with the Syrian government, and was one of several Lebanese officials sanctioned by the United States in 2007 for allegedly "contributing to political and economic instability in Lebanon." In December 2012 Samaha was listed by the United States as a global terrorist under section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224. Arrested and imprisoned in August, 2012, Samaha was convicted in May 2015 of transporting explosives into Lebanon and sentenced to four and a half years in jail. He was released on bail in January 2016. Samaha was sentenced again to 13 years with hard labour in April 2016 for attempting to carry out terrorist acts.