Police on Wednesday arrested three officials of an nationalist group, a day after they called on Lebanon to withdraw from the Arab League, a judicial official said. Prosecutor Mukhtar Saad said the three members of the Guardians of the Cedars were detained for "issuing a statement that incites internal sedition."

On Tuesday they gave a press conference in a hotel north of Beirut where they issued a statement, The group has long called for the expulsion of Palestinian refugees and their descendants from Lebanon. The statement also called Lebanon to withdraw from the Arab League "because we are not part of the Arab world." It added that the policy of pan-Arabism had brought only harm to Lebanon.  "Syria is worse than Israel," the statement added.

Tuesday’s press conference was the first time the Guardians of the Cedars had appeared in public since the group was banned in the 1990s.  Its leader, Etienne Saqr, was condemned to death in absentia by a Lebanese court in 1996 for collaboration with Israel. He is now believed to be living in Israel.

Younis, one of those at the press conference, is a journalist who served 15 months in prison in 2001-2 for collaborating with Israel.

The three person arrested are Habib Younis, Naji Awad and Joseph el Khoury Taok