The Daily Star - Lebanon arrests sheikh on charges of spying for Israel - May 24, 2011

BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities have arrested a Shiite sheikh in southern Lebanon on suspicion of spying for Israel, a security source told The Daily Star Tuesday. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lebanese intelligence personnel arrested Sheikh Mohammad Ali Husseini, leader of the obscure Arab-Islamic Resistance, late Saturday in his apartment in the Riz complex just east of the southern port city of Tyre and took him to the Defense Ministry in Yarze, east Beirut, for questioning. He said information gathered about Husseini over the past 10 days led to his arrest. The Lebanese intelligence unit also confiscated computer sets, communication equipment and documents from Husseini’s home. Reporters based in south Lebanon said Husseini, who is critical of both Hezbollah and the Amal Movement of Speaker Nabih Berri, has been funded by Saudi Arabia since 2008. They said Husseini and members of his group, which consists of no more than 75 men, carried out a simulation of a military maneuver in 2008. Al-Akhbar newspaper Tuesday said Husseini met Saudi King Abdullah in 2008. Husseini’s detention was the first high-profile arrest in recent months. Lebanon launched a wave of arrests in April 2009 as part of espionage investigation in which dozens have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel. Among the high-ranking arrests made over the last year were those of an army officer, a member of Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and telecom firm employees. President Michel Sleiman has called for harsh punishment for the spies and vowed to sign death sentence verdicts should he receive any. Seven people have received death sentences in the last few months. Security officials say the arrests have severely weakened Israel’s spying networks in Lebanon.