Hezbollah Trainee Wins Bid for Resentencing in Terrorism Case

A Lebanese man who relocated to the US in 2000 lost on Wednesday his Second Circuit appeal challenging a conviction for receiving military-type training from the foreign terrorist group Hezbollah.

Although the jury was improperly instructed on the military-training charge, the mistakes weren’t prejudicial, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said.

The court vacated Alexei Saab’s 12-year sentence, however, saying the enhancement for offenses involving a federal crime of terrorism was improperly applied. The offense wasn’t considered a federal crime of terrorism until March 2006—after Saab’s Hezbollah-related conduct ceased.

The government offered an alternative basis for the ...