Fadl Shaker Surrenders After 13 Years of Absence .. What Awaits Him?

In a surprising move that ended years of controversy and hiding, Lebanese artist Fadl Shaker surrendered himself on Saturday, October 4, 2025, to the Lebanese army at the Al-Hosn checkpoint, one of the entrances to the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Sidon, southern Lebanon.

Close sources to Shaker confirmed that the artist voluntarily surrendered to a force affiliated with the Lebanese army intelligence.

Eyewitnesses told Reuters that Shaker walked out on foot from inside the camp, appearing relaxed and speaking with his companions optimistically, before being received by three army officers for his official surrender and the start of the investigation process.

Fadl Abdul Rahman Shamandour, known artistically as Fadl Shaker, was born in Sidon in 1969 to a Lebanese father and a Palestinian mother, and later became one of the most prominent stars of Arabic romantic music in the early 2000s, achieving wide success with his warm voice and songs that touched the audience's feelings.

However, he announced in 2012 his retirement from singing and joined the armed group of Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, which engaged in bloody confrontations with the Lebanese army in the town of Abra near Sidon in 2013.

These confrontations resulted in the deaths of 18 soldiers and 11 militants, and ended with the Lebanese army taking control of the compound that al-Assir and his supporters used as their headquarters.

Following that, Shaker sought refuge in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, which is controlled by Palestinian factions, preventing Lebanese security forces from entering, allowing him to hide inside for years.

In 2017, the military court issued an absentee judgment sentencing Shaker to 15 years in prison and stripping him of his civil rights, followed by additional judgments, where in 2020 two more absentee judgments were issued on charges related to "interfering in terrorist activities" and supporting armed groups that fought the army.

However, under Lebanese law, absentee judgments are automatically canceled upon the person's surrender, meaning that Fadl Shaker will now undergo a new trial in person, allowing him to defend himself before the judiciary.

In April 2025, Shaker issued a press statement saying that he had been wronged for 13 years, indicating that his entry into the camp was not an escape from justice but a flight from death threats, and that the cases that pursued him came later as part of "political vendettas that have no legal basis," as he described.

A close source to him told AFP after his surrender:

"He believes in his innocence and trusts that the Lebanese judiciary this time will be fair and just."

Despite his absence from the media scene, Fadl Shaker did not stop singing; through his official YouTube channel, he has been publishing new songs recorded inside the camp for years, achieving high listening rates, especially his songs featuring his son Muhammad Shaker, which gained great popularity in the summer of 2025.

By surrendering, Fadl Shaker closes a long chapter of his life that was filled with controversy and division between those who saw him as a wronged artist and those who considered him involved in serious security issues.

The ball is now in the court of the Lebanese judiciary, which will retry him, while his audience and opponents await the outcome of this case that has occupied Lebanese and Arab public opinion for over a decade.