3 years with hard labor for Lebanon activist who ‘collaborated’ with Israel

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s military prosecution on Monday sentenced an activist to three years in prison for “collaborating” with Israel and traveling to the Jewish state, a judicial source said.

Kinda al-Khatib, who is in her twenties, was arrested in June and charged with “collaborating with the enemy,” “entering the occupied Palestinian territories” and “collaborating with spies of the Israeli enemy.”

Lebanon is technically still at war with Israel and forbids its citizens from traveling there.

A United Nations peacekeeping force patrols the border area between the neighboring countries.

“The military court… issued a ruling imposing a three-year prison sentence with hard labor on Kinda al-Khatib,” said the judicial source, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment on the issue.

בלבנון שמים על הכוונת פעילים שמתנגדים לחיזבאללה ולמחנה שלו. אחרי שמישל שמעון, פעיל מוכר, הוציא וידאו נגד הנשיא מישל עון ונעצר ושוחרר בהמשך, הגיע תורה של כינדה אל-ח'טיב, שלא מהססת להביע את דעתה ברשת נגד המחנה המזוהה עם חיזבאללה. הדבר המעניין הוא שיש קמפיין חזק למען שחרורה pic.twitter.com/FcbnFTpWwj

— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) June 19, 2020

Prior to her arrest, Khatib on Twitter had criticized Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite terror group that fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel.

Her family and activists have denounced her arrest as “political” because of her tweets against those in power.

Lebanese media and activists have drawn a parallel between Khatib’s case and that of actor Ziad Itani, who was also accused of “collaborating” with Israel in 2017.

Itani was declared innocent and released several months later, and a high-ranking security officer was then charged with “fabricating” the case.