April 11, 2022

AMER FAKHOURY FOUNDATION DELEGATION MEET WITH FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO

The four daughters of Amer Fakhoury, representing the Amer Fakhoury Foundation (AFF), met with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Manchester NH on the afternoon of April 7, 2022. They sat down with Secretary Pompeo to discuss their father’s case and the plight of current illegal detainees and their families. They thanked him for the role he and his department played in the release of their father, the late US hostage Amer Fakhoury.

“It was nice to see how knowledgeable Secretary Pompeo was about the specifics of our father’s case and the cases of Americans who are still being detained illegally around the world.  He also understands the insidious influence Iran and Hezbollah have on Lebanese institutions and the subversion of the rule of law,” said Zoya Fakhoury.  

Later, on Thursday evening, at the Hillsborough County Lincoln/Reagan Dinner, Secretary Pompeo talked about the Fakhoury case and recognized Amer’s daughters and their work with the Fakhoury Foundation.  He also described his emotional reaction, on a runway in North Korea, when three detainees stepped out of a panel van and Pompeo realized that he had secured their release.  

Backgound on Amer Fakhoury and the Fakhoury Foundation

Amer Fakhoury was a U.S Citizen who was kidnapped by the Hezbollah backed Lebanese government on September 12th, 2019 while on a family vacation in Beirut, Lebanon. He was abused, tortured, and illegally detained for 7 months. After tremendous pressure from the U.S government, the Lebanese government admitted to the illegal arrest of Amer Fakhoury. 

Fakhoury was released on March 19th, 2020 and died on August 17th, 2020.

The Amer Fakhoury Foundation fights for all victims of illegal detention as well as victims living under radical and corrupted governments. AFF provides advocacy, emotional, and financial support to the victims and their families, and works to ensure anti-torture laws are created and implemented and that perpetrators are held to account.