Reuters – 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
