DUBAI: A United Arab Emirates court sentenced two Lebanese
nationals and a Lebanese-Canadian citizen to six months in jail followed
by expulsion for setting up a group affiliated to the Lebanese Shi'ite
militant group Hezbollah, local media said on Monday.
The state news agency WAM did not identify the three but
said they had set up a group of "international nature" linked to
Hezbollah without a licence.
The English language Gulf News said the three, a Canadian Lebanese
and two Lebanese nationals aged 62, 66 and 30, were convicted of setting
up an office for Hezbollah and carrying out commercial, economic and
political activities without licences.
The court said the charges date back to before October 2014.
The UAE in November 2014 published a list of groups the cabinet had
designated as terrorist organisations, including two affiliates of
Hezbollah group in the Gulf.
In February, the UAE along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,
Qatar, Oman and Kuwait - all U.S.-allied Sunni Muslim states - declared
the Iran-backed Hezbollah a terrorist organisation and warned any
citizen or expatriate against any links to it.
Hezbollah has backed the government side in Syria's civil
war while Sunni Gulf Arab states have supported rebels bent on toppling
President Bashar al-Assad.
(Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
- Reuters
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