Report: Two Syrians Jailed to Life for Spying for Damascus
The military judiciary sentenced on Saturday two Syrians to life in prison with hard labor after being allegedly convicted of spying for their country, media reports said.
According to MTV, Moufid George Bou Hassoun and Ahmed Mohammed al-Elkeh were sentenced separately in absentia with their civil rights being stripped.
The two defendants could appeal the sentence if they surrendered or were detained and they would be tried before the military court, the report said.
Violence has spilled over into Lebanon from neighboring Syria in recent months, with shelling by the Syrian army and cross-border shootings, as well as Syria-related clashes between Lebanese gunmen in the northern port city of Tripoli and Beirut.
The U.N. says more than 1.2 million Syrians, over half of them children, have become internally displaced in the country since the start of anti-regime protests in Syria in March 2011, while an estimated 250,000 refugees sought shelter in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, with around 40,000 refugee in Lebanon.
Lebanon's political parties are deeply divided over the Syrian revolt, with the Western-backed opposition supporting the uprising and March 8 allies a lead backer of President Bashar Assad.
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