A military court in Beirut has sentenced two Lebanese nationals along with a fugitive Libyan man to life in prison and hard labor over charges of planning to murder Libya’s prime minister.

Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawwan made the ruling against Lebanese citizens Mehdi al-Hajj Hasan, his son, Haidar, and Libyan Abdel Salam Mohammed.

According to the senior judge, the convicts sought to carry out their assassination bid last June when they placed explosive charges inside a package bound for Libya.

The parcel was, however, seized by the Lebanese General Security before it could reach the North African state.

The two Lebanese men have explained seeking revenge for Imam Moussa Sadr’s disappearance along with his companions in Libya in 1978 as the motive behind their plot to murder the Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi.

Iranian-born Lebanese philosopher and prominent Shia leader, Imam Moussa Sadr, and two of his companions went missing during an official visit to Libya in August 1978. They were scheduled to meet with officials from the government of the Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s.

The case has been a long-standing sore issue in Lebanon, where authorities blame Tripoli for the disappearance of the three. Libya, nonetheless, claims that Sadr and his companions left the African nation for Italy.

This is while, there are allegations that the top Shia figure is secretly being incarcerated at a detention facility in the mostly desert Libya.

BEIRUT- Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported on Tuesday that the Fatah al-Islam militant group is trying to infiltrate several Palestinian refugee camps, especially the Beddawi camp in North Lebanon and the al-Bourj al-Shamali camp in South Lebanon, in an attempt to form small cells capable of launching terrorist attacks against Palestinian and Lebanese officials as well as UNIFIL.

“A man identified as Fadi Ibrahim has recently been discovered in the Ain al-Hilweh camp to be working with both Jund al-Sham and Fatah al-Islam to form terrorist cells,” a source said.

The daily added that the Fatah Movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is coordinating with the Lebanese Armed Forces to gather information on Fatah al-Islam members and launch an awareness campaign inside the camps, so that residents will report any suspicious individuals.

Grand Sunni Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani played down a report of an assassination attempt against his life.

Qabbi stressed that the report “comes within the framework of efforts to disrupt the political and constitutional functions in Lebanon.”

The report, published by the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper, said Lebanese intelligence disrupted an assassination attempt on Qabbani that was to take place on the first day of Eid el-Fitr on Sunday.

It said that according to information obtained by the Lebanese intelligence, the assassination was intended to be done by means of a suicide operation inside Mohammed al-Amin Mosque during the Eid prayers.

In remarks published by the daily an-Nahar on Tuesday, Qabbani said al-Anbaa report also aimed at “spreading fear among citizens as well as destabilizing security and stability in Lebanon.”

Meanwhile, a security source told an-Nahar that security forces took “precautionary measures” around mosques and religious centers during Eid el-Fitr “to prepare for any emergency situation.”

He said the Lebanese army command took Dar al-Fatwa’s permission for tightening security measures around a number of spiritual and political leaders taking part in Eid prayers, in addition to clearing the streets leading to the mosque of vehicles.

Among the security measures was searching worshipers entering the mosque for fear of an infiltration attempt by one or more terrorists who could be wearing an explosive belt.

As-Safir newspaper, for its part, quoted a well-informed Lebanese military source as saying that the army command has received information about a possible terrorist attack against by a fundamentalist group against participants in the Eid prayers at Mohammed al-Amin mosque in downtown Beirut.

NEW YORK: A Lebanese-born Swede has been sentenced to life in prison for plotting to open a terrorism training camp in the western state of Oregon. US District Judge John Keenan sentenced Oussama Kassir on Tuesday in New York. He was convicted in May of supporting Al-Qaeda by trying to help open the camp in Bly, Oregon, in 1999. Keenan called Kassir “a clear threat to public safety.” Prosecutors said the goal was for Al-Qaeda to take advantage of relaxed US gun laws and train European recruits. They also said Kassir had distributed manuals on the Internet with instructions on making bombs, poisoning people and slitting throats. – AP