News / Persian Gulf

Emirati court tries seven people over 'Hezbollah link'

Wednesday, 16 March 2016 8:06 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 16 March 2016 8:06 AM ]

Hezbollah fighters hold flags as they attend the funeral procession of Ali Fayyad, a senior commander of the movement who was killed during an offensive against foreign-backed Takfiri militants in Syria, in the southern Lebanese village of Ansar, on March 2, 2016. © AP

A court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has brought seven people to trial over ‘their affiliation to Hezbollah’, Lebanon’s resistance movement.

Two Emirati nationals and five foreigners stood trial at the State Security Court in the capital, Abu Dhabi, on charges of forming a group linked to Hezbollah, the UAE-based Arabic-language daily newspaper al-Ittihad reported.

The report noted that the Emirati nationals included a police officer accused of supplying the Lebanese resistance movement with military information and another defendant who purportedly gave Hezbollah documents containing the names and details of officials at the kingdom’s interior ministry.

Three Lebanese citizens and an Iraqi national are also accused of being part of the ‘Hezbollah-linked group’.

Additionally, an Egyptian woman, who worked for an oil company in the United Arab Emirates, is accused of passing information about the energy company to Hezbollah.

The report came only two days after authorities in Bahrain announced the deportation of a number of Lebanese nationals from the country over what they called Hezbollah links.

On March 11, foreign ministers at an Arab League meeting in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo branded Hezbollah a terrorist group in their final statement. However, Lebanon and Iraq refused to go along with the move and Algeria expressed “reservations.”

In a similar move, the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) issued a statement on March 2, labeling Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The Arab bloc comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Hezbollah later denounced the designation and described the [P]GCC member states as “reckless and hostile.”

The measure came days after Riyadh retracted a USD four-billion aid pledge to Lebanon’s security forces. The decision was made in the wake of recent victories by the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters, against the Takfiri militants fighting to overthrow the Damascus government.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said the Saudi regime seeks to provoke “strife” between Shias and Sunnis in the Middle East, urging the Lebanese not to be intimidated by threats being posed by Riyadh and Tel Aviv.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk