Death sentence for Israeli spy

A lebanese man accused of spying for Israel and giving the Jewish state security information it used during its 34-day war with Hizbollah in 2006 was sentenced to death yesterday.

Ali Mantash appeared in court in Beirut on the same day that prosecutors charged Charbel Qazzi, a manager at the state mobile telephone company Alfa, with spying for Jerusalem.

A broad espionage investigation has led to more than 50 arrests since April 2009. Mantash is the second Lebanese to face the death penalty for spying for Israel, which has not commented on either case.