Lebanon hands down another 20 sentences for collaboration with “Israel”

“ A Beirut military court handed down another 20 sentences Wednesday against Lebanese accused of aiding “Israel” during its 22-year occupation of the country, as a marathon trial neared its end.

The court sentenced 13 former members of “Israel’s” proxy militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), to between one year and seven years in jail, with six of them also fined the equivalent of 267 dollars each, a judicial source said.

Another seven people found to have cooperated with the SLA only through "civil administration" were sentenced to between one and six months in prison. The sentence of one of them was commuted to a fine of 667 dollars.

Two former members of the SLA were released because their alleged crimes were too old to be prosecuted.

The marathon trial, which began just 10 days after “Israel” withdrew its last troops from south Lebanon on May 24, has so far led to the judgment of 2,371 people, out of some 3,010 Lebanese who were arrested or surrendered to authorities on charges of collaboration.

So far, 15 people have been sentenced to death and three others to life in prison, all by absentia.

 AFP, 21-3-2001.