THREE Australian men convicted of terrorism-related offences in Lebanon a little more than a year ago are to have their appeals heard in the military court in Beirut in April, according to the latest advice given to the federal government.
Hussein El Omar, Ibrahim Sabouh and Omar El Hadba are out on bail pending the hearing. A fourth Australian, Hussein Sabbagh, has been convicted in absentia by a Lebanese court and his whereabouts are unknown, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said.
Lebanese authorities approved a request for appeal last January and all are receiving Australian consular help, she said.
The fate of the men has been shrouded in mystery since a flurry of public interest when they were arrested in 2007 during a Lebanese army swoop on members of the terrorist group Fatah al-Islam, which is linked to al-Qaeda.
El Omar, a Sydney businessman who was reportedly stopped at Beirut airport while preparing to fly back to Australia in June 2007, is related to Mohamed Ali Elomar, now serving a minimum of 21 years in jail in NSW for his part in amassing ammunition and building a bomb in preparation for a terrorist act.
In its 2008 human rights report, the US State Department said security forces reportedly broke Hussein El Omar's jaw while he was in detention.
Sabouh, a former Sydney financial planner who attended the radical Global Islamic Youth Centre in Liverpool, is considered the most important member of a group of Australians connected to Fatah al-Islam, a source close to the Lebanese military court said.
The Australian group, which began its activities in Lebanon 10 years ago, rented land to establish a sports club in the northern city of Tripoli, where it is alleged to have conducted military training and given religious lectures, the source said.
Lebanese intelligence officers found 500 kilograms of weapons and explosives, including rifles, pistols, grenades, machineguns and landmines at a garage space in Tripoli rented by the former Sydney taxi driver Hadba, the Herald has previously reported.
Fatah al-Islam instigated a violent uprising in a Palestinian camp, Nahr el-Bared, in Lebanon's north, in which 165 soldiers and 200 militants were killed.
The source close to the court said that for political reasons Lebanese authorities have abandoned plans to try many members of Fatah al-Islam arrested at the same time as the Australian men and they have been released.
Fatah al-Islam caused the deaths of more than 900 people in Lebanon between 2006 and 2008 in bank robberies, bombings and guerilla attacks.
Sabouh's former lawyer, Mohammad El Masri, and members of his family in Auburn declined to comment.
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