BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Beirut's military court Tuesday sentenced a Palestinian in absentia to life in prison with hard labor for planning to assassinate the U.S. ambassador.
The court said Maher Saadi was convicted of trying to assassinate David Satterfield, the U.S. ambassador in Lebanon in 2000, after being hired by the al-Qaida network, which paid him $7,000.
The court ruling said a suspected al-Qaida operative,Abu Mohammed Masri, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in south Lebanon, recruited Saadi to assassinate Satterfield, but the two later disagreed on the plan, leading to a cancellation.
Ein el-Hilweh and 11 other refugee camps are controlled by Palestinian groups and are outside the control of the Lebanese authorities.
