Azerbaijan jails 2 Lebanese for Israel embassy plot
Ali Karaki, Ali Najmeddin found guilty of plotting attacks on Israeli, American embassies in Baku, setenced to 15 years each. Najmeddin tells court he had fought IDF as Hezbollah member, was sent to Iran by commander
An Azerbaijani court on Monday found two Lebanese men guilty of plotting attacks on the Israeli embassy in the capital Baku, jailing them for 15 years each, a court spokesman said.
"Lebanese citizens Ali Karaki and Ali Najmeddin were sentenced to 15 years each," a court spokesman told AFP.
He said they were preparing attacks on the Israeli and US embassies, as well as the strategic Gabala missile-detection radar station in the north of the country.
After a number of obscure reports, and under heavy censorship, most of the details of the case were exposed last May in a Los Angeles Times report, which claimed that Hezbollah was just weeks away from a terror attack at the embassy last year.
The attack, which was foiled by local security forces, was to be in response to the assassination of Imad Mughniyah.
It was reported that police seized a booby-trapped car carrying the two Lebanese, who were on their way to Iran. The car was packed with explosives, binoculars, cameras, guns with silencers, and photos of the embassy's compound.
One of the convicted men, Ali Najmeddin, said in his testimony to the court that he had in the past fought the IDF as a member of Hezbollah, and arrived in Iran in 2007 under the orders of his Hezbollah commander.
From there he was sent to Azerbaijan, in order to collect information on the Israeli embassy in Baku.
According to the charges brought against the two, Najmeddin and Karaki were sent to Azerbaijan by al-Qaeda and Hezbollah leaders, in order to plan terror attacks.
AFP contributed to this report
