Lebanese officers (archives)
Photo: AFP
Lebanon charges ex-general with spying for Israel
Former general Adeeb al-Alam, wife, nephew charged with establishing contact with Israel's Mossad 'with aim of facilitating its aggressive acts' and 'visiting enemy country' without permission
A Lebanese prosecutor on Thursday charged a former general and three other people with spying for Israel and referred them to the military court.
Adeeb al-Alam, a retired brigadier general of the prominent General Security directorate, his wife and nephew were arrested this month by the Lebanese police on suspicion of espionage.
A fourth person linked to the cell is still at large, judicial sources said.
Espionage
Roee Nahmias
Lebanese daily says two cells accused of spying for Israel captured so far – one by Lebanon's internal security service, other by Hizbullah. Report says suspects used special equipment given by Israeli intelligence to mark military, civilian targets struck during Second Lebanon War
The arrests had been described by the local media as a major achievement for the Lebanese security services and a blow to Israel's spying networks monitoring the anti-Israeli political group Hizbullah.
Judge Sakr Sakr charged the four with establishing contact with Israel's Mossad spy agency "and supplying it with information about military and civilian Lebanese and Syrian centers with the aim of facilitating its aggressive acts".
Sakr also accused Alam of possession of weapons and of him and his wife, Hayat Saloumi, of visiting "the enemy country" without permission.
If indicted and later convicted by the military court, the four face the death penalty.
Local media had reported Alam had been working for Israel since 1984. He had been in charge of several sensitive positions including the passport department at the General Security directorate.
Reports said security forces had begun monitoring Alam, who now runs an agency that imports Asian domestic workers, shortly after the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah.
