Hamas is denouncing a Libyan military court's heavy sentences levied on four Palestinians found guilty of smuggling arms from Libya to Hamas in Gaza, setting up a secret foreign organization inside Libya, possession of arms and conspiracy against state security. This is the first judicial security case involving Hamas in Libya.

On Feb. 21 in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, the military court imposed sentences on the men ranging from 17 to 22 years. The four men, arrested in October 2016, are Marwan al-Ashqar, his son Baraa, Muaied Abed and Naseeb Shbeir.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Feb. 22, “The Libyan judgments were based on the public prosecutor’s investigations, which included secret documents accusing the detainees of joining a legally banned organization, disclosing secrets related to national defense, ... [and] illegal possession and smuggling of firearms to Gaza.”

The detainees' family members told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the detainees have lived in Libya since the 1990s. They worked for a technology company in Tripoli and studied at the capital’s universities. The detained, held at the prison of Tripoli’s Special Deterrence Force, have been denied visits for months and suffered daily abuses, relatives said.