A military court has sentenced another 65 Lebanese accused of collaborating with “Israel” to prison terms of between three weeks and 15 years in prison.
The sentences were handed down late on Wednesday night after another marathon court session to try the more than 2,200 Lebanese accused of collaborating during “Israel’s” occupation.
The harshest sentence was 15 years in prison and was handed down in absentia. The other sentences did not exceed five years but most defendants were also barred from returning to live in their hometowns for between one and four years.
A charge of obtaining “Israeli” nationality was dropped against one man for lack of evidence, but he was convicted of working in “Israel”.
The tribunal, which has met three times a week since June 5, has so far sentenced 533 Lebanese. The harshest prison sentence was 22-and-a-half years handed down in absentia to a former member of the “Israeli”-proxy militia. All sentences can be appealed.
militiamen who had not been convicted of committing crimes have generally been sentenced to one year in prison and those who entered “enemy territory” have received terms of one or two months behind bars.
Meanwhile, judicial sources vehemently denied on Thursday that an elderly militiamen had died from a lack of medical attention as reported by a newspaper.
An-Nahar quoted an unidentified lawyer as saying that her client died after his “Israeli”-made pills were taken from him.
Jirjis Said, 72, who died in detention on Wednesday, “suffered a fatal heart attack,” according to one source. “He was suffering from diabetes and cataracts. Prison authorities provided him with medical care and the right medication.”

 The Daily Star, 30-6-2000.