A Lebanese citizen living in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for conspiring to raise money for Hezbollah.

Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, 34, pleaded guilty in March 2005 to conspiracy to provide material support to Hezbollah, designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. 

Kourani admitted hosting meetings at his home where donations for Hezbollah were solicited by a guest speaker from Lebanon.  According to the indictment unsealed by a federal grand jury in Michigan in January 2004, Kourani was a “member, fighter, recruiter and fund-raiser for Hezbollah.”