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 license.
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 licenses.
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 organizations, 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 organization 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.
REUTERS
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