World
Family of American hostage tortured in Lebanon wins landmark case against Iran
After a nearly four-year search for justice, a U.S. court has found in favor of the family of a Lebanese American man held hostage in Lebanon, finding that the Islamic Republic of Iran, working through its proxy Hezbollah, should be held liable for their father’s kidnap and torture.
Two of Amer Fakhoury’s daughters, Guila and Zoya Fakhoury, told Fox News Digital that on May 1, a U.S. District Court judge found Iran responsible for Fakhoury’s imprisonment.
“This is the first lawsuit to prove Iran’s influence over Lebanon,” Guila said. “We were very happy about the judgment.”
‘HOSTAGE IN LEBANON:’ NEW HAMPSHIRE FAMILY RECOUNTS FATHER’S DETAINMENT, TORTURE IN NEW BOOK
During President Trump’s first term, his administration helped secure the release of New Hampshire businessman Amer Fakhoury. (Fakhoury Family)
Amer Fakhoury was arrested a week after traveling to Lebanon with his family in September 2019. After his arrest, a newspaper linked with Hezbollah alleged that Fakhoury, formerly a member of the South Lebanon Army, had been the “butcher” of Khiam, a detention center where grave human rights abuses were reported to have taken place.
Though he was released from a military prison in December 2019, it was only after the Lebanese Supreme Court dropped charges against Fakhoury in March 2020 that he was able to return to the U.S. By the time of his return, Fakhoury had lost 60 pounds and was suffering from late-stage lymphoma, along with rib fractures and other health complications. He died in September 2020 at the age of 57.
Proving Fakhoury’s suffering and torture was a battle for the family, though Guila said the State Department’s classification of her father as a hostage was instrumental in proving the nature of Fakhoury’s captivity.
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Proving that Iran was behind the imprisonment was more difficult. In fact, while Guila said some people “kind of laughed” that the family blamed Iran for their father’s mistreatment, Zoya said “Iran’s influence in Lebanon in recent years further proves our point.”
Because Iran never responded to the suit, Guila said the family was forced to provide evidence her father witnessed of Hezbollah’s control over “every government agency in Lebanon,” including the military hospital, military court, and the Lebanese General Directorate of General Security, the country’s intelligence apparatus that Guila said arrested and tortured Fakhoury.
In Beirut, an arch glorifying Hezbollah and Iran’s leader Ali Khamenei, and people gather outside a hospital after the arrival of several men wounded by exploding handheld pagers, in Beirut. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images | AP Photo/Bassam Masri)
Even when the Lebanese judicial system found Fakhoury innocent of multiple false charges that he was a killer, a terrorist and an Israeli agent, Guila said officials told Fakhoury that they had to keep him “because Hezbollah wants [him] in prison.”
Fakhoury’s family faced difficulties even before filing their case in May 2021. Zoya says Hezbollah officials in Lebanon have been issuing threats to the family since Fakhoury’s death. In addition to Iran failing to respond to the suit, Guila said Lebanese General Directorate of General Security officials interfered with the lawsuit by asking to have their names and agencies removed. She says the judge denied the request.
Long periods of silence from the court also made the wait for justice difficult, Zoya said. “The last four years, we were fearful,” she explained. “We were worried maybe nothing’s going to come out of this.”
While the family is grateful for the judgment they received, Guila says they believe the settlement awarded through the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act was “a bit of an unfair decision” and did not “take into account the pain and the suffering of the family.”
Amer Fakhoury and his family during Christmas 2018. (Courtesy of the Fakhoury family)
Still, the landmark judgment paves the way for others to find justice, the family says. “We’re hoping, with this administration, to use the judgment that we have and the work that we’ve been doing in the [Amer] Foundation to continue the accountability efforts,” Guila said. “A lot of other Lebanese citizens [and] American citizens that have been targeted by the Lebanese government, by Hezbollah in Lebanon, can now use this case to get justice for what happened to them,” Zoya explained.
The sisters said the next steps in their journey are to find justice for their father and will involve requesting the State Department to sanction “officials in Lebanon who were traitors and working with Hezbollah and Iran.”
World
Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push
World
Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report
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Some landlords in England are apparently advertising “Muslim-only” apartments online, according to a local media report.
An investigation by The Telegraph found that alleged listings posted in London on Facebook, Gumtree and Telegram feature phrases such as “only for Muslims,” “for 2 Muslim boys or 2 Muslim girls,” and “Muslims preferred.”
Other ads appeal to Punjabi and Gujarati speakers, while some job vacancies on the platforms are advertised for men only.
Some listings specify “Hindu only,” in addition to posts that likely use religious subtext by stating: “The house should be alcohol and smoke-free.”
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On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” “one double room is available for Muslims,” and “suitable for Punjabi boy.” A Meta spokesman told Fox News Digital that Facebook then removed the company’s page “for violating the platform’s policies on discriminatory practices.”
Apartment buildings in Westminster, London, U.K. (John Keeble/Getty Images)
The ads run afoul of Britain’s Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief, race and other protected characteristics.
“These adverts are disgusting and anti-British. It goes without saying that there would be a national outrage if the tables were turned,” Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s economic spokesman, told The Telegraph. “All forms of racism are unacceptable, and no religious group should get a special exemption to discriminate in this way.”
Houses and properties line Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, London, U.K. Some landlords in the city are illegally advertising for “Muslim only” tenants across the city, an investigation by The Telegraph has found. (Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images)
One landlord told The Telegraph to “go away” when asked about an ad for a “Muslims only” room for $1,150, and whether it was available to renters of other faiths.
A spokesperson for Gumtree told the newspaper that the company has clear policies in place that prohibit unlawful discrimination.
On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“We take reports of inappropriate listings very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “The ads referenced appear to relate to private rooms within shared homes, where existing occupants may express preferences about who they live with. This is different from renting out an entire property, which is subject to stricter rules under the Equality Act.”
Telegram did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
World
Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?
Europe’s critical raw materials crisis has a partial answer sitting in the waste stream — but the continent has been too slow to see it.
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Dorota Włoch, CEO of Eneris Surowce, was direct: recycling is no longer optional.
Unlike plastics, metals can be recovered and reused indefinitely, making urban mining — the recovery of raw materials from existing products and waste — increasingly valuable, particularly for batteries.
“From recycling, we recover metallic aluminium and so-called black mass, which is a concentrate of metals, mainly cobalt-nickel. These are some of the most valuable battery metals. And batteries are crucial today, not only in the automotive sector, but also in storing energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar,” she said.
‘Europe is 25 years late’
Włoch put the scale of the problem plainly. “Deposits are critical — any machine can be bought, but natural resources are not. They are non-transferable and non-renewable. If we use them, they simply disappear,” she said.
Europe’s belated recognition of that reality has cost it dearly.
“The regulation of critical raw materials came 25 years after other regions of the world had invested heavily in deposits. Europe was too passive. Today we are catching up, but the regulations are often so demanding that countries like Poland have difficulty implementing them.”
Who benefits most from extraction?
Poland holds significant reserves of raw materials critical to the modern economy, such as copper, coking coal, nickel, platinum group metals, helium, rhenium, lead and silver.
But the minerals needed most for the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, exist only in limited quantities, forcing imports.
Arkadiusz Kustra, dean of the faculty of civil engineering and resource management at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, told a panel at the European Economic Congress that awareness of the full supply chain, and who profits from it, was now essential.
He pointed to Serbia as a case study.
“Serbia has lithium deposits and is already in talks with Mercedes or Stellantis,” he said. Belgrade is using that leverage to attract investment in battery factories and car plants, keeping more of the value chain at home.
The goal, Kustra argued, should be regional supply chains that retain added value locally.
“You can earn the least at the beginning and the most from the end customer,” he said.
The bigger obstacle is Chinese dominance.
“Margins in critical raw materials largely go to the Chinese, who control more than 90% of processing and trading, even though they do not own most of the deposits,” he said.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo — among the world’s most resource-rich countries — Chinese entities control around 90% of deposits.
The panel also pointed to growing interest in new supply partnerships, with Poland eyeing assets in the Congo region and the Americas.
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