BEIRUT, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Military Examining Magistrate Judge Riyad Abu Ghida issued Wednesday an indictment against former information minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security official Ali Mamlouk over charges of plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Lebanon at the behest of Syria.
The pair may face the death penalty if convicted. Abu Ghida also approved a request submitted last week to issue a search warrant to identify a Syrian colonel known only by his first name Adnan, who plotted for the bombings with the other suspects.
Samaha was arrested in August 2012 and charged with plotting to assassinate Lebanese leaders and transporting explosives from Syria to carry out attacks in northern Lebanon in an attempt to provoke sectarian strife.
During the investigations, Samaha revealed that he received the explosives from Mamlouk and Adnan. Therefore, similar charges were leveled against both of them.
On Feb. 4, the Lebanese Military Tribunal issued Monday an arrest warrant in absentia for two Syria's intelligence officials, who remain free.
Head of the Information Branch of the Internal Security forces, Brigadier General Wissam el-Hassan, managed to thwart the plot. Afterwards, Hassan was assassinated by a car bomb in October 2012.
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