The Senate is getting ready to vote on legislation that would sanction Lebanese officials responsible for wrongfully detaining American citizens, Al-Monitor has learned.

The Senate moving forward with the sanctions bill, introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, indicates that Washington is skeptical Lebanon will actually allow US citizen Amer Fakhoury to return home, even after a military tribunal ordered his release on Monday.

“The Senate is getting the process underway to [unanimously pass] Sens. Shaheen’s and Cruz’s legislation that sanctions Lebanese officials for the detention of American citizens, and this is in response to recent developments in Lebanon,” a Senate aide told Al-Monitor.

Why it matters: Shaheen and Cruz introduced the bill to sanction the Lebanese government, judicial and military officials last month as a response to charges against Fakhoury, Shaheen’s constituent. Lebanon arrested Fakhoury in September and charged him with torturing prisoners at the notorious Khiam Prison during the civil war as a member of the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army.