Dubai: A US citizen of Lebanese origin has been sentenced by a United Arab Emirates court to 18 months in prison on terrorist charges relating to Israel and Iraq, newspapers reported on Tuesday. Naji Hamdan was found guilty of funding and supporting terrorism and having links with Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Sunna because he entered an Islamist website and donated money to an Islamic charity, Gulf News said.
Hamdan will serve only four months in prison before being deported, since he has already spent 14 months in detention. The maximum penalty for the charges is 15 years in jail.
Prosecutors had said the money Hamdan donated was used in actions against Israel.
The UAE is a key ally of Washington in the Arab world.
It has no diplomatic ties with Israel but supports the self-rule government of US-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is in conflict with Islamist group Hamas which controls the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
Defense lawyers told the court the crimes were committed in the United States. Hamdan has lived in the UAE since 2006.
The American Civil Liberties Union had said US authorities referred the case to the Gulf Arab country because there was not sufficient evidence for a trial in US courts.
Bureau Report
