The trial of Mohammad Ayyad, who is accused alongside others of involvement in the killing of Irish soldier Seán Rooney and the attempted murder of three of his colleagues, will continue in a new session in September, according to sources in the Lebanese judiciary.
Speaking to Rita El Jammal, the Lebanon correspondent of The New Arab's sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the sources said that the Military Court had scheduled a new session for this September in the ongoing trial.
The source also said that multiple court sessions were previously set for Ayyad's trial, but he did not attend after his attorney presented medical exemptions, indicating Ayyad was hospitalised.
However, the attorney has not provided the court with any medical reports or evidence substantiating his client's health condition or progress, prompting the court to repeatedly request this documentation. The source emphasised that the court remains committed to pursuing justice and accountability.
Private Rooney, aged 24 from Newtowncunningham in County Donegal, was killed by gunfire in December 2022 while driving an armoured jeep in the Al-Aqibya area near Sidon as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping mission in the country.
The perpetrators of the attack have been accused of being linked to Hezbollah, including by a Lebanese judge in 2023. While the group did facilitate the handover of Ayyad and others charged with Rooney's murder, it has denied any link to the alleged killers.
Meanwhile, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris, who also serves as Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs, raised the issue of Rooney's killing on Wednesday during a meeting with Lebanon’s Defence Minister Michel Murr in Yarze, southeast of Beirut.
Harris announced that Rooney’s family plans to travel to Lebanon to attend the upcoming trial session in September, expressing hope that they would witness tangible progress towards justice.
The Fine Gael leader also reaffirmed the Irish government's repeated calls for accountability for those responsible for any attacks against peacekeeping forces, commending ongoing cooperation by Lebanese authorities regarding the case.
At the time of the incident, Hezbollah’s head of coordination and liaison unit, Wafiq Safa, described the incident as "unintentional", saying that the party was not implicated and calling for security forces to handle the investigation.
Quoting local residents, Safa mentioned that one Irish UN vehicle had mistakenly taken an unusual route, while a second vehicle used the regular international highway without incident.
The indictment issued by First Military Investigative Judge Fadi Sawan accused Ayyad and several fugitives of forming "a criminal gang to commit a single criminal act".
If found guilty, Ayyad could face the death penalty, with prosecutors stressing that the actions of the accused fit within paragraph five of Article 549 of the Lebanese Penal Code.
This states that a "crime committed against a public official during, related to, or because of their official duties is punishable by death".
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