A member of Hezbollah guilty of Hariri's murder

One guilty and three acquitted. This is the final verdict of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), in which Salim Jamil Ayyash, an alleged member of the Lebanese Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah, has been convicted of being responsible for the attack in which former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and 21 others were killed in 2005. 

"The Trial Chamber of the STL finds Salim Jamil Ayyash guilty of conspiracy and of committing a premeditated act of terrorism against Rafic Hariri, as well as for the wilful killing of 21 persons and the attempted killing of 226 others," said the President of the Court, David Re. "Although he did not act alone, he played an important role in the preparation of the attack and is therefore guilty of the charges," he added.  The same court has acquitted the other three defendants as they could not prove that they were connected to this attack. 

It was on the morning of 14 February 2005 that former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was killed when a car bomb exploded as his convoy passed in a street in central Beirut. This attack was claimed by a previously unknown fundamentalist group called Victory of the Jihad in Greater Syria. However, the accusation believes that it could be a false claim, so they initiated the appropriate proceedings. This 'in absentia' trial was the first such trial since the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

"There is no evidence of direct responsibility of Hezbollah leaders in the assassination that took the life of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri on 14 February 2005 in Beirut". These were the words used by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (TEL) during the opening session to deliver the verdict. This ruling comes at a crucial time for the country of cedars, which is suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis and where an explosion at the port killed more than 170 people. 

Rafic Hariri, a well-known leader of the Sunni community with close ties to the United States and other Western countries, was seen at the time as a threat to Iranian and Syrian influence in Lebanon. In this context, the Tribunal considers, according to the Lebanese daily L'Orient Jour, that "Syria and Hezbollah could have had reason to eliminate Hariri and his political allies. However, there is no evidence of any involvement of Hezbollah's leadership in his assassination and there is no direct evidence of Syria's involvement either," said Judge David Re. 

The session held in Leidschendam, near The Hague, to announce the verdict of this murder, which also killed 21 other people, began with a minute's silence in honour of the victims of the double explosion in the port of Beirut.  This court postponed the date on which it was due to deliver its verdict until 18 August, following the disaster of 4 August last. The suspects tried in absentia face charges of conspiracy to commit the attack as well as the attempted murder of the 231 injured. 

The court has been trying four members of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah since 2014 - Salim Jamil Ayyash, 56, who is accused of "intentional killing" and of being the leader of the team that carried out the attack; Hussein Hassan Oneissi, 46, and Assad Hassan Sabra, who allegedly made a fake video claiming responsibility for the crime on behalf of a fictitious group. For his part, Hassan Habib Merhi faces a number of charges, including conspiracy to commit the terrorist attack that killed Hariri and 21 others. If convicted, the defendants face life imprisonment, although sentencing will follow. However, according to local media reports, both the prosecution and the defence can appeal the sentence.  The court revealed on Tuesday that the main suspect in the attack is a former Hezbollah official who was killed in Syria in 2016. 

"Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri will travel to The Hague to participate in the session of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon scheduled for Tuesday, where the verdict on Hariri and his colleagues will be announced. After the verdict, Prime Minister Hariri will make a statement on the verdict," said the former Prime Minister and Hariri's son on Twitter. He issued an official note last July saying he hoped the reading of the verdict would be a "day of truth and justice for Lebanon" and that "he has never lost hope in international justice". 

During the hearing, the prosecution has insisted that the assassination "had a political objective, as the Sunni billionaire was perceived as a serious threat by the pro-Syrian and pro-Hezbollah. Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian regime in Iran, has rejected any responsibility and has repeatedly said that it does not recognize this Tribunal.