Waiting and hope looming on the Lebanese scene these days, awaiting the decision of the International Tribunal for the assassination of the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and I hope that this ruling will not have repercussions on the ground in Lebanon.
The Special Court for Lebanon postponed pronouncing the verdict from the seventh day of this August to the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, due to the explosion at the Beirut port, which occurred on the fourth of the same month, which left more than 170 dead and thousands injured.
She explained her decision "out of respect for the large number of victims ... and respect for the national mourning that was declared in Lebanon for three days."
And after nearly 13 years of its founding, the day after tomorrow the competent court in the case of the Hariri assassination - which was established by a decree issued by the United Nations in 2007 and began its deliberations in The Hague, Netherlands in 2009 - pronounces its verdict in absentia against four of the five defendants it says belong to Hezbollah.
On 14 February 2005, Hariri was killed with 21 people and 226 wounded in an explosion targeting his motorcade opposite the ancient St. George Hotel in downtown Beirut.
The prosecution states that the four named in the indictment were involved in the assault. The indictment issued in January 2011 included: Mustafa Amin Badr al-Din as the mastermind of the operation. However, in July 2016, the prosecution filed an amended indictment, from which the charges against Badr al-Din were deleted, after receiving reports described as reliable about his death in Syria, but Badr al-Din's name is still included in the indictment as an accomplice in the plot.
The four defendants, namely: Salim Ayyash, Hassan Habib Mari, Hussein Hassan Oneisi, and Asad Hassan Sabra were jointly charged with "participating in a conspiracy whose aim is to commit a terrorist act."
The following is a summary of all of them, and the charges against them:
- Salim Jamil Ayyash
He was born on November 10, 1963, in Harouf (southern Lebanon), and he is a Lebanese resident in Hadath (south of Beirut). In addition to the collective charge, he was also charged with “committing a terrorist act using an explosive device” and the double charge of “intentionally killing former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 other persons using explosive materials”, and a fifth charge of “attempting to intentionally kill 226 other persons using explosive materials.” .
- Hassan Habib Mari
He was born on December 12, 1965 in Beirut. He is Lebanese, and he was living on the eastern façade of Burj Al Barajneh, Baabda (south of Beirut). The indictment against him was issued relatively late (October 2013) after the court found that he had a role in concealing the truth by recruiting Ahmed Abu Adass to claim responsibility for the assassination. Besides the charge of participating in a conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, Maree was accused of "interfering in the crime of committing a terrorist act with the use of an explosive device." The third and fourth crimes are “interfering in the murder of Hariri intentionally using explosive materials, and interfering in the murder of 21 others deliberately using explosive materials,” and the last “interference in the crime of attempting to intentionally murder 226 persons using explosive materials.”
- Hussein Hassan Oneisi
Onesi - also known as Hussein Hassan Issa - was born on February 11, 1974 in Beirut, and is a Lebanese resident in Hadath (south of Beirut). In addition to the collective charge related to participating in a "conspiracy aimed at carrying out a terrorist act", he was charged with four other charges, which are "interfering in the crime of committing a terrorist act with the use of an explosive device, interfering with the crime of murdering Hariri intentionally using explosive materials, and interfering in the deliberate murder of 21 other people." Using explosive materials, and interfering with the crime of attempting to intentionally kill 226 persons using explosive materials. "
- Asad Hassan Sabra
Sabra was born on October 15, 1976, in Beirut. He is a Lebanese resident in Hadath (south of Beirut). He was accused of being involved in a “conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act.” The second charge was “interfering in the crime of committing a terrorist act using an explosive device,” and the third charge was “interfering in the crime of deliberately killing Hariri by using explosive materials.” As for the fourth and fifth charges, they were, respectively, of "interference in the murder of 21 other people in addition to the deliberate killing of Hariri with the use of explosive materials, and interference in the crime of attempted murder of 226 persons in addition to the deliberate killing of Hariri by using explosive materials."