A Lebanese-American linked to Hezbollah faces 25 years in prison for transmitting information about potential American targets.
Image d’illustration.
AFP
A New Jersey resident, suspected member of Hezbollah, has been arrested in New York on charges of transmitting information for possible attacks in the United States, the US Department of Justice said Thursday. He faces more than 25 years in prison.
According to American prosecutors, this 42 year old Lebanese naturalized American in 2008 would have started in 1999 to follow the trainings of Hezbollah, Lebanese pro-Iranian Shiite organization classified as terrorist in the United States since 1997.
As a member of the Hezbollah branch responsible for external operations – which was notably attributed to the 2012 bombing of Israeli tourists at the airport in Burgas, Bulgaria – he reportedly passed on information about potential American targets.
White wedding”
After moving to the United States in 2000, while returning regularly to Lebanon for training sessions, the man reportedly provided detailed information on iconic New York locations, including the UN headquarters, the Empire State Building, Times Square, bridges, tunnels or airports. In 2005, he also allegedly tried, in an unspecified country, to assassinate an Israeli citizen whom he suspected of spying.
He is also accused of having made a “white” marriage in 2012, to allow an accomplice, not identified in the indictment, to obtain American nationality. “He was looking for possible targets across the United States,” said the Manhattan federal prosecutor. “Although naturalized American, his true allegiance was to Hezbollah, a terrorist organization responsible for attacks for decades, which killed hundreds of people”.
The man was indicted on a total of nine counts: two of them, relating to aid to a terrorist organization, each carry 20 years in prison. The one linked to the sham marriage for terrorist purposes could earn him 25 years in prison.
Posted: 09/20/2019, 12:38 a.m.
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