January 22, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 21, 1426

ALEXANDRIA, Jan 21: A US court on Friday sentenced a former Defence Department specialist to 12 years and seven months in prison for giving classified information to an Israeli diplomat and two pro-Israeli lobbyists.

Lawrence Franklin, who had worked as a top analyst on Iraq and Iran, was also fined 10,000 dollars.

Judge T.S. Ellis described it as ‘a very odd’ case as he believed Lawrence Franklin, who pleaded guilty to three charges last year, had been acting out of a desire to help the United States.

Mr Franklin was accused of giving secret information about an unnamed Middle East nation to an Israeli diplomat and two lobbyists for the influential American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.—AFP