LAST UPDATE | 12 Aug

AN APPEAL HAS been lodged in Lebanon this evening against the leniency of sentences handed down to a number of people involved in the murder of Private Seán Rooney and an attack on his colleagues.

Also, the Minister for Defence Tánaiste Simon Harris, has announced that the Lebanese Government has told him they have sacked the current military prosecutor in Beirut and replaced him.

The Lebanese have also said they will arrest the chief suspect Mohammad Ayyad and carry out the death penalty handed down by a Lebanese military court in July.

Private Rooney, 24, from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed while serving in Lebanon when his UN peacekeeping convoy was attacked on 14 December 2022.

The shooting, near the town of Al-Aqbiya in the south of Lebanon, a stronghold of militant group Hezbollah, resulted in the death of Private Rooney while Trooper Shane Kearney, 22, was badly wounded.

A number of other men, who are suspected members of the militant group Hezbollah received sentences ranging from a few months to fines. 

The mother of Seán Rooney, Natasha McCloskey, said the sentences were too lenient. 

In a statement issued by Phoenix Law , she said: “Whilst no court case or litigation can bring Seán back, the truth and justice for his murder is the very least he deserves.”

She added that she cannot “sit idly by and let the truth get lost in the hysteria”.

She said that the trial in Lebanon “was not justice” and “unreflective of what we regards as a trial process”.

Rooney said that the trial was “heard and determined in less than half a day” and that “little to no information” was disclosed or challenged in open court.

“Instead, we are forced to believe the answers provided by a Lebanese justice system which from the outset has failed to hold those responsible to account,” said Rooney.

The Tánaiste wrote to the Lebanese Government following last month’s trial to express the disappointment of the Irish Government and in particular of the Rooney family at the leniency of the sentences handed down.

Harris met Private Rooney’s family last week and committed to holding urgent talks with the Lebanese Justice and Defence Ministers in order to press for an appeal. Those talks took place earlier today.

This evening the Tánaiste called Natasha McCloskey, and informed her of the various developments.

In a statement this evening Harris welcomed news of the appeal being lodged against the various defendants sentences. 

“I have this afternoon spoken with Sean’s mother Natasha, who I was pleased to also meet last week. I informed her of today’s developments and have committed to following up directly with the Lebanese Government in relation to the appeal itself.

“In my calls with my Lebanese counterparts, I made it clear that the sentences handed down in this case are simply not acceptable and are very disappointing.

“They have caused great upset and insult to the Rooney family and everything must be done to ensure justice is served for Seán and his colleagues who were injured,” he said.