Lebanon sentenced 26 men to between three months and 20 years in prison on Saturday over a string of bomb attacks on U.S. restaurants and an alleged plot to assassinate the U.S. ambassador, judicial sources said. Another man was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment with hard labor, while eight more were acquitted, they said. The Lebanese and Palestinian men had been arrested after a rash of small attacks on fast food restaurants including McDonald’s and Pizza Hut, which peaked at the height of the three-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Lebanese authorities cracked the cell after a booby-trapped car was found outside McDonald’s in Beirut in April. It failed to explode. Four of the group were convicted of plotting to kill U.S. ambassador Vincent Battle but the court waived their penalties since the plan was never put into action, the sources said. The convictions ranged from trying to set up a “terrorist” cell to possession of firearms, they added. Full Story
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