BEIRUT: The Future Movement stepped up its campaign against the Military Tribunal Friday, describing its verdict against former Minister Michel Samaha as a “joke” as the justice minister went as far as calling for the court’s dissolution.

Future Movement leader Saad Hariri criticized as too lenient the Military Tribunal’s decision two days earlier to sentence Samaha to four-and-a-half years in prison for transporting explosives.

“Samaha attempted to ignite a civil war, so he was sentenced to four years. Wissam [al-Hasan] foiled his [Samaha’s] attempt and saved all the Lebanese from the war, so he was executed,” Hariri wrote on Twitter.

“Before which court can these provisions be appealed?”

The comments came after other Future Movement and March 14 officials denounced the Military Tribunal Wednesday and Thursday over the verdict that they saw as too relaxed.

The tribunal Wednesday handed Samaha a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon with the intent to assassinate political and religious figures.

March 14 officials allege that the October 2012 assassination of Wissam al-Hasan, who was then-head of the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch, was punishment for leading the operation that uncovered Samaha’s plot.

Meanwhile, the Future bloc attacked the Military Tribunal over the “lenient” sentence, describing the verdict as a “joke,” and saying the court has lost Lebanon’s confidence.

“The bloc condemns in the strongest terms the lenient sentence issued by the Military Tribunal against the criminal terrorist Michel Samaha,” the statement said. Samaha “was working, planning and directing a series of severe crimes by conspiring with the Syrian security agencies to target innocent civilians, religious figures and politicians.”

“The crimes could have caused the ugliest strife in the history of Lebanon,” it added.

The lawmakers emphasized the need to amend the military judiciary law that organizes the work of the Military Tribunal. The statement said the court’s prerogatives should be limited to trying servicemen, and all other cases should be dealt with by civilian courts.

The statement, read out by MP Hadi Hobeish at a news conference after the parliamentary bloc’s weekly meeting, said the sentence was in line with other lenient sentences the court had issued in the past. “The Military Tribunal’s verdicts in recent years, especially in the cases of terrorism and collaboration with the Israeli army, have proven a double standard distinction between different types of terrorism,” it said. “[The tribunal] has lost the trust of the citizens.”

The statement compared the Samaha case to that of Fayez Karam, a former aide to Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, who handed information to Israel and was released after 18 months in detention.

It said the verdict against Samaha was a “joke that … underestimates and ridicules the minds, souls and dignities of the Lebanese.”

“The bloc sees that the military’s jury, given the case’s facts and the threat it poses to national security and civil peace, should have aggravated rather than reduced the sentence to protect its prestige and that of the state and its institutions.”

It added that Hezbollah’s “illegitimate” arms were to blame for the deterioration of the Lebanese state and the military judiciary.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said he would submit a draft law to the Cabinet to dissolve the Military Tribunal after the controversial verdict handed down by the court in the Samaha case.

“I am preparing a draft law to annul the military court and I will present it to the Cabinet,” Rifi said after a meeting with rights groups.

“I support a civilized, non-totalitarian state,” he said. “The sentence handed down to Samaha was inappropriate [considering] the crime.”

Rifi insisted he would carry on with his “struggle to protect humans” and to “build a state that respects institutions.”

The pledge by Rifi to take action against the Military Tribunal proves he is “ignorant of laws,” a Hezbollah MP said Friday.

“Rifi’s words mark an unprecedented assault on the judiciary and on justice … from a person that is supposed to be the guardian of the judiciary and justice,” MP Nawar Sahli said.

Samaha admitted in court that the explosives were meant to be used in assassination plots targeting religious and political figures in Lebanon. He insisted that he was lured into a trap by Kfoury.

Samaha has been in custody since August 2012 and is set for release in December. A judicial year in Lebanon is nine months long.

Sahli accused the Future Movement minister of committing an “illegal” act by asking the state prosecutor to challenge the verdict.

“This is not permitted by any text in the Lebanese law,” he said. “But we are not shocked by Rifi’s ignorance of the law and what it states.”

Rifi dismissed the criticism later Friday, telling his opponents they were wasting their breath.

The minister said all the measures he had taken were “in accordance with Lebanese laws” and “at the heart of [his] prerogatives.”

The police arrested Samaha in August 2012, charging him with transporting explosives from Syria into Lebanon with the intention to carry out bombings targeting political and religious figures.

Footage released Thursday showed conversations between Samaha and ISF informant Milad Kfoury in which Samaha discussed how the explosions should target north Lebanon MP Khaled Daher, his brother, Free Syrian Army commanders and Syrian militant gatherings in north Lebanon.

Samaha handed Kfoury $170,000 and several bags of TNT to carry out the operations, according to the footage. Kfoury shot the footage using a hidden camera.