Family of former US hostage slams Biden pick for counterterrorism job: ‘We are shocked’

FIRST ON FOX: The family of Amer Fakhoury, a former U.S. hostage who was detained during a family vacation in Lebanon in 2019, is blasting President Biden’s nominee to be the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, Elizabeth Richard, who was the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon during Fakhoury’s imprisonment.

“As the family of the late U,S. hostage, Amer Fakhoury, we are shocked by the news that Ambassador Richard is being confirmed as the next counterterrorism CZA in the State Department,” Fakhoury’s family said in a statement to Fox News. “Our father would still be here today if the US embassy under Ambassador [Richard] prioritized an American citizen’s life first instead of catering to the Hezbollah backed Lebanese government.”

AMERICAN MAN WHO WAS DETAINED IN LEBANON FOR SIX MONTHS DIES OF CANCER, FAMILY SAYS

Fakhoury, who is now deceased, was arrested in his native Lebanon during a family trip in September 2019 after a Hezbollah-backed newspaper accused him of torturing Hezbollah and Palestinian prisoners in the 1980s and 1990s. Fakhoury, of New Hampshire, was never previously accused of the charge, and his family and attorney denied it.

The 57-year-old father of four developed cancer during his forced incarceration in Beirut, where he was beaten and tortured and held without charges for six months. Eventually, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, proposed bipartisan sanctions against senior Lebanese officials involved in Fakhoury’s unlawful detention, and the State Department pushed for his freedom. A Lebanese military judge responded to the mounting pressure by charging Fakhoury with murder, attempted murder of prisoners, kidnapping and torture.

Soon after, the Trump administration got its choice of ambassador, Dorothy Shea, confirmed by the Senate in February 2020, and she also started lobbying for…