Prague, Feb 11 (CTK) – Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikan discussed Prague’s decision not to extradite Lebanese suspect Ali Fayad to Washington with the U.S. Embassy in Prague beforehand, he told Czech Television (CT) last night, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote on Thursday.
“It would be imprecise to say they nodded to the plan, but they were well aware of it and they clearly knew what was going to happen,” Pelikan (ANO) said on CT24 channel.
The USA suspects Fayad of helping terrorists, which is why it asked Prague for his extradition.
Fayad was arrested in Prague in April 2014. He waited in Czech custody for a decision on his extradition to the USA.
A week ago, Pelikan decided not to meet the U.S. request. Fayad was released from custody and left for Lebanon.
Simultaneously, five Czechs were released in Lebanon after six-month detention by kidnappers and returned to Prague.
“I talked to [U.S.] ambassador [Andrew Schapiro] before we disclosed it [decision on Fayad’s release]. True, he did not rejoice at it. Afterwards, I was surprised how sharp their reaction was,” Pelikan said.
In reaction to the release of Fayad by Prague, the U.S. Embassy said there is no justification for the step. The U.S. Federal Court suspects Fayad of conspiring to kill American civil servants and to acquire anti-aircraft missiles.
Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO) said in media interview last Friday that the return of the Czechs home was connected with Fayad not being extradited to the United States.
Other Czech politicians have not confirmed this, however.
The Czech news server neovlivni.cz, too, recently wrote that Prague had consulted its plan to exchange its citizens abducted in Lebanon for Fayad with Washington beforehand.
The server wrote that the real reason why the U.S. demanded Fayad’s extradition might not be the suspected crimes, but detailed information that Fayad had about arms trading related to Ukraine.
