2 Lebanese men jailed for collaborating with Israel
Bodyguard of pro-Iranian ex-minister given 15-year term for collaborating with Mossad; second detainee gets 20 years for detailing Hezbollah positions
A Lebanese military tribunal on Friday sentenced two men to 15 and 20 years in prison for collaborating with Israel, the Daily Star of Lebanon reported Saturday.
According to the report, one of the two men is the bodyguard of a former minister, Wiam Wahhab, who is known for his pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian and Arab nationalist views. Wahhab, a Druze, is also known for his scathing criticism of Saudi Arabia and its fundamentalist Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.
The bodyguard, Jalal Amin Abu Dhiab, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for “collaborating” with Israel and “providing it with security information about headquarters and institutions in Beirut’s southern suburbs by using aerial photos,” the Daily Star quoted judicial sources as saying.
Abu Dhiab was convicted of maintaining contact with the Mossad and providing it with information on Hezbollah officials, their homes and their cars.
The other man, Jawdat Mohammad Khoja, was reportedly given a 20-year jail term for “contacting the Israeli enemy and its intelligence and providing it with the means to begin its aggression on Lebanon” by passing on information about Lebanese military and Hezbollah positions from the year 2000, and especially during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.