Hizbullah forces
Hizbullah forcesReuters

The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday convicted Assam Mashahra, an Arab resident of Jerusalem, on charges of aiding the Hizbullah terror group. Mashahra had been charged with contacting a foreign agent and with conspiracy to deliver information that could be valuable to an enemy.

The defendant was found guilty of having travelled to an enemy country and, while there, of contacting the Hizbullah terrorist organization and conspiring to give it information that could benefit the organization against Israel.

According to the indictment, Mashahra traveled with his wife to Jordan in June of 2012, and from there got on a flight to Beirut intending to meet Hizbullah members when he got ther.

On June 22,2012, according to the indictment, the defendant toured Beirut on his own, intending to contact the organization. During his wanderings he arrived at the Dahiya neighborhood, a known stronghold of Hizbullah in Beirut in which there is a cemetery where senior members of the organization, including arch terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, are buried.

The defendant went to the cemetery and approached a guard who was stationed there, introduced himself by name, said that he was a resident of Jerusalem and asked to meet with members of the organization, the indictment said.

The defendant was subsequently taken to a meeting with one of the heads of Hizbullah, who asked questions about Israel. The next day there was another meeting, in which Mashahra was introduced to a computer technician who taught the defendant how he could make contact with the organization after his return to Israel.

In addition, the technician explained to the defendant how to use encryption software to transmit messages and gave the defendant a CD with encryption software, said the indictment.

Last year, Mil’ad Khatib, an Arab Israeli resident of the Galilee village of Majdal al-Krum, was charged with spying for and aiding Hizbullah.

In April, the Haifa District Court convicted Khatib and sentenced him to seven years in prison.