Israel sentences two Druze for 'espionage'

Pooja Agrawal
PressTv: February 11
Israel has convicted two Druze residents who had been secretly kept in detention since 2007, claiming they passed information to Syria.

Two Druze residents have been convicted of espionage for Syria over claims that they had contacted two Syrian officers during the 33-day Lebanon war and provided them with military information, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported.

According to the daily, the Israeli media had been banned from publishing the story of the two Arabs and only on Thursday was the ban finally lifted.

Nazareth District Court sentenced Yusef Shams to four years in prison and his relative, Ata Farhat, to three years behind bars, the report added.

Prosecutors allege that the two were in contact with the Syrian officers from June 2006.

Yusef Shams is a businessman who used to export apples from the occupied Golan Heights to Syria.

Israeli officials claim that during his work trips to Syria, Shams passed information about the Israeli army activities regarding the Golan Height to the Syrians.

SB/AA