The Federal High Court has fixed July 11 to rule on an application for bail by the three Lebanese – Abdallah Thaini, Mustapha Fawaz and Talal Roda – charged with possessing fire arms.
They were charged with criminal conspiracy and unlawful importation of prohibited firearms.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola fixed the date after counsel to parties made their submissions on Monday in Abuja.
The accused persons were arrested in connection with large cache of arms discovered at a residence in Kano.
Presenting the accused persons’ application, Chief Robert Clarke (SAN), argued that Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution considered his clients innocent until proven otherwise.
He submitted that the offence for which the accused persons were charged was bailable, saying: “Precedent has been set by a previous decision of the court.
“My Lord, the Terrorism Prevention Act is not a death sentence.
“We want to bring it to the attention of the court that Senator Ali Ndume has been granted bail under it.
“We pray the court to be as flexible as possible to allow the accused persons go and prepare for the defence of the allegations brought against them.
“The essence of detaining alleged offenders is to guarantee their presence during trial.
“We are by the reason of the application assuring the court of the desire of the applicants to always be available during trial.
“Thaini and Fawaz have attached copies of their medical records to the application showing the terminal nature of their ailments.
“The medical reports show that both accused have serious medical issues that require regular check up abroad.”
He urged the court to grant them bail on the ground that the charge against them was weak, adding that they were not directly linked to the arms cache.
He said: “My Lord, we are prepared to bring Lebanon’s Ambassador to Nigeria to stand as surety for the applicants.
“This is to show the readiness of my clients to stand justice if admitted on bail.”
Clarke said that the premises where the discoveries were made did not belong to any of the accused applicants, adding: “SSS has said that the owner of the place is at large.”
On the call to re-open Amigo Super Market and Wonderland businesses owned, Clarke argued that the continuous closure of the premises amounted to violation of the rights of the owner, Thaini.
He submitted that it was wrong for the authority to close the two establishments in Abuja “as they have no connections with the discovery of illegal arms in Kano.
“The authority has overreached its power.
“We are urging the court to order the re-opening of the premises.”
Arguing on point of law, Clark prayed the court to overlook the submission by the prosecution that the applicants had military training in Lebanon as freedom fighters.
According to him, the applicants gave the information to the State Security Service as preliminary issues and not to be viewed as a confessional statement.
He added: “The applicant truly had the military training in 1991 to ward off the invasion of South Lebanon by the Israelis.
“It was fashionable for young people to volunteer their services to their motherland.
“So if they are classified terrorists based on the military training they had in 1991, then all Israelis in Nigeria within their age should be classified as terrorists.”
The prosecution counsel, Simon Egede, urged the court to discountenance the submissions of the defendants’ counsel.
Egede said: “The applicants confessed to have had military training back in Lebanon as freedom fighters.
“There is the great need by the court to be wary of the kinds of personality standing these charges on arms cache.
“It is indeed trite in law that granting of bail is purely at the discretion of the court, but in doing that it must be done judiciously and judicially.
“As it stands, the applicants have shown no special circumstances to warrant the discretion of the court in this regard.
“We urge the court to consider the nature of the charge, the strength of the evidence and the likely penalty while taking final decision on the motion.
“One of them attempted to jet out of the country only to be arrested while entering the plane.
“The court should also take judicial notice of the fact that the applicants have dual nationality as Nigerians and Lebanese.
“They could escape justice when admitted to bail.”
Egede held that the example of Senator Ali Ndume cited by the counsel to the applicant was out of place, as according to him: “Ndume has no dual nationality and is a senator.”
Egede submitted that the medical report presented by the applicants were worthless, saying: “They were hurriedly packaged as that lacked previous record of ailments claimed by the applicants.”
He said that the applicants had not made formal complaints of ill-health since their arrest and detention.
Egede urged the court to dismiss the submission by Clarke to produce Lebanon’s ambassador to stand as their surety.
He contended that the court had no powers over an ambassador protected by diplomatic immunity, adding: “They are not the right people to be used as sureties.”
On the re-opening of Amigo Super Market and the Wonderland Amusement Park, the prosecutor argued that the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act of 2013 empowered security agencies to seal any premises suspected to be used for terrorism activities.
He said: “It has been confirmed from investigation that the two premises were indirectly used to sponsor terrorism activities in the country.
“I humbly submit that their re-opening will go contrary to Section 5 paragraph 3 of the Terrorism Prevention Act which gives power for the sealing of such premises at slight suspicion.
“It is pertinent to state again My Lord that re-opening the two premises will jeopardise further investigation.”
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