#Trending: Lebanon outraged at Michel Samaha ruling

The military court ruling against Michel Samaha is leading Lebanon's trending topics, as social media users across the country express outrage at the jailing of the former information minister to a mere four and a half years in jail - most of which he's already served.

Samaha had admitted smuggling explosives to be used for assassinating political and religious figures in the fractious country.

Samaha is now set to walk free in December.

The decision has been perceived as disgraceful by many, with some tweets considering it "the end of Lebanon". The oevrall trend appears to reflect a national uproar, but also the sectarian fragmentation which has marked the Lebanese societal and political scenes for so long.

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Translation: the court decision for Michel Samaha is an official announcement that Lebanon has fallen in the hands of Hizballah.

 

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Translation: Just give out the country to Hizballah and let us be.

Others compared sentences of lesser crimes, such as breaking the speed limit, with the sentence given to a "terrorist" bomb plot attempt.

 

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Translation: He has lost his civil rights, but managed to keep his "terrorism" rights. This is a humiliating military court.

 

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Translation: It turns out that exceeding speed limit of 60km/hours twice has the same punishment as planning assassinations and bombings.

 

Tweeter @Khadija Omari seemed to believe that North Korean president , Kim Jong-un, might have dealt a hardher punishment.

 

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Translation: Where are you Kim Jong-un to try the terrorist and criminal Michel Samaha?

 

On a lighter note, some tweeters thought weapons smuggling might now be a profitable business.

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Translation: I'm thinking of smuggling explosives to Lebanon and make a few millions. It's just four years and then you live like a millionaire.