UAE ِCourt Jails 3 Lebanese for Forming 'Hizbullah-Linked Group'

An Emirati court sentenced on Monday three Lebanese, including a Canadian dual national, to six months in prison for allegedly forming a local affiliate of Lebanon's Hizbullah, local media said.

The supreme federal court convicted the trio of "forming a group for the terrorist Hizbullah (movement) in the country," Ittihad daily reported, adding that they will be deported after serving their sentences.

They "were found guilty of setting up an office of the militant group in the UAE and carrying out commercial, economic and political activities without licenses," the daily Gulf News reported.

It named the men as Canadian-Lebanese Suhail Naif Gareeb, 62, and Lebanese nationals Asaad Ameen Qansouh, 66, and Ahmed Ebrahim Qansouh, 30. Their trial opened in early February. 

The Arab League last month declared the Shiite Lebanese movement a "terrorist" group, after Gulf monarchies took similar steps over the movement's alleged interference in Yemen, Iraq and Gulf states.

Hizbullah is fighting in Syria in support of President Bashar Assad's regime against opponents including Gulf-backed rebels.