Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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81. To ask the Minister for Defence the steps his Department is taking to monitor a US court hearing (details supplied); the contact he has had with the Lebanese Authorities regarding the range of charges which the person at the centre of the US court hearings may face if extradited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37224/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The matter to which the Deputy is referring is the case of the deaths of Private Thomas Barrett and Private Derek Smallhorne who were murdered, and Private John O’Mahony who was seriously injured while serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on 18 April 1980. In July 2014 the alleged perpetrator, Mr. Mahmoud Bazzi, was arrested by the United States of America’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations for administrative immigration violations. He was held in custody by the US authorities until his immigration court hearing in Detroit, on 11 August. During the hearing Mr. Bazzi admitted that he entered the United States in 1994 without proper documentation. Mr. Bazzi will be deported to Lebanon and remains in Enforcement and Removal Operations custody pending his removal from the United States. No date was set in court for his removal. My Department is in contact with the Irish Embassy in Washington, who are monitoring the situation.

I have been in contact with the Lebanese Government Authorities to seek their support and that of the Lebanese Government for every possible assistance to initiate an investigation into this case and to mount a legal action against the alleged perpetrator when he is deported to Lebanon, should such action be feasible.

The Irish Government is committed to continuing to do everything possible to pursue justice for both men who lost their lives in the line of peacekeeping duty, and stands ready to provide whatever assistance possible to the Lebanese authorities in progressing this issue.