Lebanon court hands down 22 sentences for links with “Israel”

Beirut's military court handed down Wednesday another 22 sentences against Lebanese accused of collaborating with the "“Israeli” enemy," judicial sources said.

Four people received sentences in absentia ranging between 15 years and life for "collaboration with the enemy, giving information about resistance fighters and kidnapping," they said.

Two people were sentenced to one month in jail for "entering enemy territory."

The remainder received sentences of between six months and five years in jail for collaboration with or enrollment in the now-disbanded “Israeli”-allied South Lebanon Army militia.

The trials against those accused of collaborating with “Israel” started 10 days after the May 24, 2000 pullout of “Israeli” troops from south Lebanon. Since then, Beirut's military court has tried 2,698 suspected collaborators.

So far, 31 have been sentenced to death, all of them in absentia.