Lebanon sentences 3 to prison over 'normalisation' with Israel

Lebanon’s military court yesterday handed down prison sentences to three people for “dealing and normalising [relations] with Israel.”

The official Lebanese News Agency (LNA) reported that the first ruling was a ten-year jail term against Jamal Ahmed Rifi, a doctor residing in Australia. The sentence was issued in absentia.

The second was five years in jail handed to Palestinian-American Amin Muhammad Maraai Baydoun. Beydoun was arrested by the Lebanese authorities at Beirut airport.

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The third verdict, the agency noted, was a two-year term against Mark Charbel Tanios.

These rulings are subject to appeal before the military court of cassation.

The former Lebanese justice minister, Ashraf Rifi, accused the court of being “politicised.” He described the court on Twitter as “authoritarian,” adding that his brother was a “fighter for Palestine and had never betrayed his country.”