Beirut, March 23: A Lebanese military court on Tuesday handed 20 people jail sentences of up to 15 years after convicting them on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda and plotting “terrorist attacks,” a judicial source said.
Judge Nizar Khalil found the accused guilty of “belonging to Al-Qaeda and forming an armed gang with the aim of attacking civilians and undermining the state and its authority, attempting to execute terrorist attacks, forging official documents and transferring arms and wireless devices,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
The court sentenced seven people, Palestinians and Syrians, to 15 years in prison in absentia.
The 13 others, who had formed a separate cell, were in custody and received sentences of two to 10 years in prison. They include Saudi Arabian, Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese nationals.
Members of the 13-strong cell have also been interrogated by a UN court investigating the assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, who was killed in a massive car bombing in Beirut in 2005.
–Agencies