Lebanon arrests actor Ziad Itani

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BEIRUT, Nov 25, (AFP): Lebanese authorities arrested prominent writer and actor Ziad Itani on Friday on charges of “collaborating” with Israel and gathering information on political figures, judicial sources said.

Itani was detained “after several months of monitoring, follow-up and investigations within and outside” Lebanon, said the State Security Directorate General, in a statement carried by Lebanon’s National News Agency.

It said Itani, who is in his 40s, was being questioned “on charges of collaborating and communicating with the Israeli enemy”.

He had allegedly confessed to having been “tasked to monitor a group of high-level political figures” and their associates.

The security services also said he had been assigned the job of collecting information on “two prominent political figures” whose identities would be disclosed at a later stage.

Lebanon, which technically remains at war with its southern neighbour, upholds a boycott of Israeli products and of contact with its nationals.

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