Father's Detainment and Torture in Lebanon: A New Hampshire Family's Story

Amer Fakhoury's family has spent four years seeking justice and accountability for his death, which occurred in 2020 from stage 4 cancer, just months after his release from Lebanese prison.

Amer Fakhour, an American businessman, was held captive in Lebanon for six months. Now, his four daughters are sharing their firsthand account of his detainment and rescue operation in a book titled "Silenced in Beirut: American Businessman Amer Fakhour’s Six-Month Ordeal as a Hostage In Lebanon."

Guila and Zoya Fakhoury discussed their upcoming book with Planet Chronicle Digital prior to its release on September 12, which marks the fifth anniversary of their father's imprisonment in Beirut by Lebanon's General Directorate of General Security.

Zoya stated that the book should only depict the injustice faced by the individual, the individuals involved in their illegal detention, the key players, and the actions taken by the U.S. government to bring them back home.

"The significance of this story lies in the fact that it offers a firsthand account of Hezbollah's actions in Lebanon, their impact on the local population, and how America is involved in the situation."

Fakhoury, accompanied by his wife Micheline, returned to Lebanon after 20 years to visit family, but was detained shortly after arrival due to accusations from a Hezbollah-backed newspaper that he was the "Butcher of Khiam," a man known for torturing prisoners at a now defunct prison in the 1990s.

The Fakhoury family strongly rejected the accusations, stating that their father only held a logistics position with the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Christian-majority, Israeli-supported militia that was dissolved following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

After the SLA collapsed, Fakhoury fled Lebanon and stayed in Nahariya, Israel for a few months before immigrating to the United States due to threats from Hezbollah.

According to his family, the Lebanese government published a list in 2016 stating that Fakhoury had no outstanding charges prior to his 2019 detainment, and a 2018 amnesty placed their father on a list of SLA members not associated with running Khiam prison.

According to his family, Fakhoury was falsely accused of holding Israeli citizenship and being an Israeli spy while he was detained in Beirut.

In a 2020 press release, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., stated that a Lebanese military court had accused Fakhoury of "unsubstantiated crimes that carry a punishment of death without providing any evidence to support these allegations."

The owner of a restaurant in Dover, N.H., was subjected to physical abuse, confinement in unsanitary conditions without access to sunlight or a toilet, and is believed to have contracted lymphoma from the Epstein-Barr virus due to poor prison conditions, according to his family.

Guila stated, "We truly desired to pay tribute to [Amer’s] legacy and share with the world about this exceptional father, devoted spouse, and how unjustly he was treated. Someone must be held responsible."

"Our father, who was my mom's soulmate and had a 37-year marriage, passed away. As a result, my kids cannot see their granddad. We lost a great man, and to this day, we don't have accountability. Through this book, we want everyone to read his story and learn about what happened to him."

Guila stated that her father was an advocate for democracy in Lebanon, criticized Hezbollah, and was involved in the Republican Party.

He was an American citizen, an advocate, and a member of the Republican Party. He had pictures on his Facebook, which made him close to politics in America. She believes this is why he was illegally detained and falsely accused, despite the charges being untrue, as she told Planet Chronicle Digital.

Zoya stated that she believed that the government's reassurance could not completely alleviate the individual's nervousness, despite his fear that Hezbollah was still in Lebanon. She added that this fear was likely due to the fact that Hezbollah has been linked to kidnapping cases.

According to a report by The New York Times, Trump administration officials speculated that Hezbollah was behind Fakhoury's arrest.

Fakhoury was rescued from the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon via a U.S. Air Force V-22 Osprey following the proposal of bipartisan sanctions against Lebanese officials by Senators Shaheen and Cruz, R-Texas, for the detention of U.S. citizens.

Five months after his initial detainment and 75 pounds lighter, Fakhoury returned home and was treated at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where he passed away a month later.

Our U.S. government is still lacking accountability, as Guila told Planet Chronicle Digital. It has been four years since we have tried to hold Lebanese officials and the Lebanese government accountable for the killing of an American citizen.

"Zoya stated that their journey has been challenging, but they are grateful for their family because they draw strength from each other. When one of them is feeling down, they feed off the other's energy. This helped them stay strong, as they didn't have a mourning period after her father's death. Instead, they immediately wanted to work on his case, knowing the injustice he faced and the magnitude of his suffering."

The Amer Fakhoury Foundation was established by the Fakhourys in memory of their late patriarch to support the families of detained Americans, hold foreign governments accountable for the detention of U.S. citizens, and push for policy changes.

The book is available on the foundation’s website.