- Title: Lebanon court acquits one Australia bomb plot suspect
- Date: 19th September 2019
- Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (SEPTEMBER 19, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AMER KHAYAT'S LAWYER JOCELYNE AL-RAI SITTING AT DESK LOOKING THROUGH DOCUMENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AMER KHAYAT'S LAWYER, JOCELYNE AL-RAI, SAYING: "I want to say that Amer Khayat's file was very sensitive, his charge was maybe a little harsh. It took time for the truth to be revealed, for his innocence to be revealed. But I am very proud of the Lebanese judiciary that acquit him of such a charge." VARIOUS OF FILES ON AL-RAI'S DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AMER KHAYAT'S LAWYER, JOCELYNE AL-RAI, SAYING: "This verdict came as a result of around three years of trials, as a result of more than ten sessions in front of court, as a result of a conviction generated to this court and surely, if this court found an evidence, it wouldn't at all issued this verdict." VARIOUS OF AL-RAI CHECKING COURT FILES
- Embargoed: 3rd October 2019 11:33
- Keywords: Lebanon military court Amer Khayat trial Australian plane bomb plot bomb plot aquitted
- Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- City: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA002AXBQ8G7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Lebanon's military court has acquitted one of four brothers accused of planning to blow up a flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi nearly two years ago, his lawyer said on Thursday (September 19).
State news agency NNA said the Lebanese-Australian man, Amer Khayat, would be released from Lebanon's Roumieh prison, where he has spent two years and two months.
His lawyer, Jocelyne al-Rai, said legal procedures for him to leave prison were being completed. "It took time for the truth to be revealed, for his innocence to be revealed," she added.
The military court also sentenced three other Khayat brothers - Khaled, Mahmoud and Tareq - in absentia to hard labour for life, NNA said late on Wednesday (September 18).
An Australian court in May found Khaled Khayat guilty of plotting an Islamic State-inspired plan to blow up an Etihad Airways flight by hiding a bomb disguised as a meat mincer in the luggage of his brother Amer, who was unaware.
Lebanon's police said in 2017 that one of the four brothers, Tareq, was an Islamic State commander in Syria. The others, Khaled, Mahmoud and Amer, were all living in Australia but occasionally visited Lebanon, with Amer landing in Beirut in July 2017 on the day of the plot to smuggle the bomb onto the plane, Lebanon's interior minister said at the time.
(Production: Alaa Kanaan, Yara Abi Nader) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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