Lebanese authorities have arrested a Palestinian UN employee who faces questioning by a military investigator for carrying forged Lebanese ID papers and a travel document showing entry to Israel, the state prosecutor said, quoted by the Daily Star newspaper on Sunday.
“Sami Abdel-Nour, a program planning expert with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, was arrested on May 15 after arousing suspicion by “asking people questions” near Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri’s Beirut residence,” State Prosecutor Adnan Addoum said.
Addoum told reporters that a search of Abdel-Nour’s house revealed the forged papers and an entry visa to Israel, said the paper.
Travel or any contacts with the Jewish state are punishable by law.
Another UN staffer, Nasser Qaddoura, a Palestinian assistant chief of programs at UNICEF, was detained on May 25 for unspecified reasons, the paper added.
Addoum said Qaddoura was released late Friday, but he did not say why Qaddoura had been detained.
UN officials refused to comment on either case when contacted by the paper - Albawaba.com
