Lebanon Court Sentences Anti-Syria Christians

July 13, 2002

BEIRUT - A Lebanese court has acquitted one Christian activist opposed to Syria's grip on Lebanon and charged with defaming Syria's army but sentenced several others to a week in jail, court sources said on Thursday.

Military court sources said Nadim Lteif, a backer of exiled army general Michel Aoun, had been cleared but that five others had been convicted of the charge, which stemmed from raids on their homes and meeting places in August 2001.

Christians make up around a third of Lebanon's population of some four million, and have been among the most vocal critics of Syria's presence in Lebanon, where it has about 20,000 troops and effective political authority.

Three other men arrested during the August raids, including an associate of jailed anti-Syrian militia head Samir Geagea, were convicted of conspiring with Israel to undermine Lebanese-Syrian ties and given jail terms ranging between three and four years in March.

Syria poured troops into Lebanon early in the 1975-1990 civil war to rescue Christian militias from defeat by Muslim and Palestinian forces, but turned on those groups after they sided with Damascus's arch-enemy Israel.

Many Christians resent Syria for its role in a post-war political settlement that has entrenched its place in Lebanon and diminished the traditional political power of Christians to the advantage of the country's Muslim communities.

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