A Lebanese military court on Tuesday handed 20 people jail sentences of up to 15 years after convicting them on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda and plotting “terrorist attacks,” a judicial source said.

Judge Nizar Khalil found the accused guilty of “belonging to Al-Qaeda and forming an armed gang with the aim of attacking civilians and undermining the state and its authority, attempting to execute terrorist attacks, forging official documents and transferring arms and wireless devices,” the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The court sentenced seven people, Palestinians and Syrians, to 15 years in prison in absentia. AFP