New Zealand foreign affairs officials are checking a report that Lebanon's Military Tribunal has sentenced a Jordanian New Zealander and six others to hard labour for forming a terrorist group.
The Daily Star, an English language newspaper in Beirut, said the seven were accused of forming an armed group with
the aim of conducting terrorist acts in Lebanon, weapons trafficking and falsifying official documents.
They included a Jordanian New Zealander named Khaled Ziyad Shamout. a Jordanian Australian named Imad Farouk Bsiso and two Palestinians, Mohammad Samir al-Salem and Haytham Mohammad Ghotani.
Three Palestinians who are still on the run - Rami Ahmad Ward, Nader Mostafah Khalifeh and Toufiq Mohammad al-Taha - were also sentenced.
No other details were reported and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials in Wellington were unable to offer any immediate comment about the New Zealander reportedly involved.
- NZPA
