Two Australians jailed in Beirut
From correspondents in Beirut
February 24, 2005
From: Reuters

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12355339-29277,00.html
A MILITARY court in Lebanon has sentenced two Australian nationals to jail after convicting them of terror-related activities.
The court sentenced Saleh Jamal, a Jordanian-born Australian, to five years in jail on charges of possession of weapons and explosives, forging an Australian passport, forming a group and planning acts that endangered state security.
Lebanese-born Australian Hayssam Melhem was sentenced to a year in jail in the same case.
The two men were charged last May.
Jamal fled Australia using a fake passport in March last year, while on bail for his alleged involvement in the 1998 shooting attack on the Lakemba police station in southwestern Sydney.
He was arrested in May on terrorism charges while trying to flee Lebanon, again using a false passport.
Jamal was found guilty of "creating an illegal association, together with two Lebanese men, in order to carry out activities harming state security", one source said.
Lebanese national Zuheir Hassan Issa, was found innocent, while Saadallah Khazaal was sentenced to five years in prison in absentia.
In 2003, a Beirut court sentenced two Australian brothers in absentia to 10 years in jail for terror-related offences.
Lebanon and Syria, which has broad influence over Lebanese security, are under pressure to prove they are co-operating in the US-led war on terror.
With AFP and AAP