Ex-militiaman convicted of murdering two Irish peacekeepers in 1980

A military court in Lebanon has convicted a man of murdering two Irish peacekeepers 40 years ago.

In a verdict announced on Monday night, the court said it had found ex-militia member Mahmoud Bazzi (76) guilty of the murders Pte Thomas Barrett and Pte Derek Smallhorne on April 18th, 1980 who were part of the Unifil mission in the country.

The court sentenced Bazzi to life in prison but immediately reduced this sentence to 15 years on the basis of his age.

Bazzi murdered the two Irish men in revenge for his brother who had been killed in a firefight with Irish and Fijian forces which became known as the battle of At Tiri. Irish man Pte Stephen Griffin and a Fijian were also killed in the engagement.

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The verdict was handed down by a military tribunal sitting in Beirut on Monday.

Following a UN investigation Bazzi was found in 2015 living in Michigan in the US and selling ice-cream. He was later deported to Lebanon over immigration offences where he was put on trial for the two men's murder.

The 71-year-old kidnapped, tortured and killed privates Pte Smallhorne (31), from Dublin, and Pte Barrett (30), from Cork and shot Irish peacekeeper John O’Mahony, in 1980.

Bazzi committed the murders while a member of the Israeli-sponsored South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia, formed to operate against Palestinian and Lebanese Shia forces during Israel's 1978-2000 occupation of Lebanese territory north of the border with Israel.

The Irish peacekeepers were travelling in convoy on April 18th, 1980, when they were stopped by the SLA.

Pte O'Mahony, from Scartaglin, Co Kerry, testified during the trial that the two Irish soldiers were assaulted before being driven away by the militiamen.

Bazzi later appeared on television and said he murdered the men to revenge for his brother’s death. However he later changed his story and said he had been ordered by his commander to kill the men.