Thursday, 29 April 2010

Sayyed Nasrallah: Egypt Court Sentences Badge of Honor

29/04/2010

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said that the verdicts in Egypt against the freedom fighters who were offering support to the resistance in the Gaza Strip are politicized and unfair.

Speaking to the Kuwaiti Al-Rai television to be broadcast Thursday, Sayyed Nasrallah said that “when those brothers were arrested in Egypt, we stressed – and I’ve said this personally – that those are honest resistance fighters, not outlaws, criminals, and terrorists as the judge described them. They are honest people and their only crime is that they were supporting their brothers in Gaza and giving help to the legitimate Palestinian resistance which should be embraced by everybody. Those men were fulfilling their duty and everything beside this are mere fabrications to cover the measures that were taken against them.”

His eminence addressed the detained resistance men and their families: “When you chose the path of backing the Palestinian people, you knew that you could be arrested or maybe killed as martyrs at any time. What you have gone through in Jail and the sentences that have been issued today is a badge of honor on your chests.”

Sayyed Nasrallah added: “For Arab and Muslim peoples to know that we get detained and jailed because we believe that Allah is our God and we only abide by His order to support our brothers in Palestine and Gaza is something to be very proud of. I don’t see in this any loss for any Arab depth. On the contrary, this confirms the credibility of our position and commitment to the Palestinian people. Of course, we seek more support to them, but even this much backing is costing us. Yet, this is all under Allah’s eyes and for His sake.”

His eminence continued: “Of course the doors are not closed in Egypt, and we are surely not going to let those brothers in prison. We will follow up this case even if a sentence was issued, and we’ll seek to resolve the matter as we did in the past, through legal and judicial channels...This case is no longer a judicial matter, so perhaps the only available exits are political ones.”

The Hezbollah leader concluded: “We will seek, through political and diplomatic channels to resolve this issue, establish our brothers’ rights, and not letting them in prison.”

A Cairo court on Wednesday handed down jail sentences against 26 men it convicted of plotting attacks against ships in the Suez Canal and on tourist sites, among other charges.

The defendants said in a hand-written letter obtained by AFP that they never planned attacks in Egypt. They said they had tried to help the Hamas movement during Israel's devastating December 2008-January 2009 offensive against the Palestinian territory.




Varying Prison Terms for Members of So-Called Hezbollah Cell

28/04/2010 Egypt's State Security Court on Wednesday handed down sentences to 26 members of the so-called Hezbollah Cell that varied from six months to the maximum life term in jail.

The 22 accused who were in the dock, received jail terms of between six months and 15 years, despite calls from prosecutors for the death penalty to be imposed.

The four defendants who remain on the run, including the alleged head of the so-called Hezbollah cell Lebanese national Mohammed Qabalan, received life sentences.

Sentencing by the state security court, a tribunal of exception set up under Egypt's three-decade-old state of emergency, was greeted by cries of "Allahu Akbar (God is Greater)" from the dock.

The 26 were convicted of plotting attacks against ships in the Suez Canal and tourist sites, among with other charges. They are two Lebanese, five Palestinians, one Sudanese and eighteen Egyptians. Most were detained between late 2008 and January 2009.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah had said after the arrests were publicized in April that he sent a senior commander, identified by his code name Sami Shehab, to Egypt to support Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip. His eminence said the cell comprised no more than 10 people and denied they planned attacks in the country.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

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