STL Session to Announce Verdicts in Hariri Case Begins

A Special Tribunal for Lebanon session to announce the verdicts in the case of the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri kicked off at 12:00 pm Beirut time at The Hague.

The session is expected to end at 6:00 pm.

Ex-PM Saad Hariri, ex-MP Marwan Hamadeh and a Lebanese delegation are attending the session.

In a tweet, the STL said the Judgment is “a reasoned decision analysing the evidence & arguments presented during trial.”

“The Judges had withdrawn in Sep. 2018 to review the evidence presented before them during the trial & deliberate whether the Prosecution proved their case beyond any reasonable doubt,” it added.

At the beginning of the session, Presiding Judge of the Trial Chamber David Re asked to observe a minute of silence out of respect for the victims of the August 4, 2020 massive explosion at Beirut's port.

Re later explained how the alleged Hizbullah squad had monitored Rafik Hariri's movements prior to his assassination with "over 2.5 tons of explosives."

He later said that the Accused Salim Ayyash, Hassan Merhi and Mustafa Badreddine used a specific mobile phone network to coordinate the operation.

Re also pointed out that the assassination was carried out for political and not personal motives.

The judgment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was initially scheduled for August 7, but was postponed until Tuesday after a colossal fertilizer warehouse explosion in Beirut on August 4 that killed 177 people and deepened political tensions in the country.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has refused to hand over the four defendants, and the case relies almost entirely on mobile phone records that prosecutors allege prove the plot to kill Hariri.

Salim Ayyash, 56, is accused of leading the team that carried out the bombing, which involved a truck packed full of explosives that detonated near Hariri's motorcade.

Assad Sabra, 43, and Hussein Oneissi, 46, allegedly sent a fake video to the Al-Jazeera news channel claiming responsibility on behalf of a made-up group.

Hassan Habib Merhi, 54, is accused of general involvement in the plot.

- 'Act of terrorism' -

The judgment harks back to an event that changed the face of the Middle East, with Hariri's assassination triggering a wave of demonstrations that pushed Syrian forces out of Lebanon after 30 years.

Billed as the world's first international tribunal set up to probe terrorist crimes, the U.N. Security Council agreed in 2007 to set up the court and it opened its doors in 2009, although the trial itself did not formally start until 2014.

It has cost at least $600 million to operate.

The four defendants face charges including the "intentional homicide" of Hariri and 21 others, attempted homicide of 226 people wounded in the bombing, and conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

"The attack was an act of terrorism that was designed to spread fear among the Lebanese population. It was committed for political and not personal reasons," judge Re said as he began reading out the judgement.

"The successful attack was carefully planned and implemented."

Prosecutors said that in the months before the attack four networks of mobile phones -- dubbed the yellow, red and blue networks -- followed Hariri as he traveled around Lebanon.

The judge said prosecutors had presented a "vast quantity of evidence" including 269 prosecution witnesses.

The four suspects face life imprisonment if convicted, although sentencing will be carried out at a later date. If the four are convicted and not present, the court will issue arrest warrants, a court spokesman said.

Both the prosecution and defense can appeal the judgment and sentence, while if a defendant is eventually arrested he can request a retrial.

However Nasrallah last week warned the powerful movement would ignore the verdict by the court based in Leidschendam just outside The Hague, saying "we do not feel concerned by the STL's decisions."

The alleged mastermind of the bombing, Hizbullah commander Mustafa Badreddine, was indicted by the court but is believed to have been killed in the Damascus area in May 2016.

- 'Severe threat' -

Prosecutors said during the trial that Hariri was assassinated because he was perceived to be a "severe threat" to Syrian control of the country, allied to Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Hariri was Lebanon's Sunni premier until his resignation in 2004 over Syria's role as power-broker in the country.

Observers have voiced fears that the verdict, whichever way it goes, could spark violence on the streets in Lebanon when it is announced.

Since its inception "the court has been widely contested," said Karim Bitar, professor of international relations in Paris and Beirut.

"Some have questioned its legitimacy, some have questioned whether this justice would not be selective," he said.

Tuesday's verdict comes as thousands of Beirut's residents have expressed anger at the authorities after the August 4 blast at Beirut's port, triggered by a warehouse fire that set off large amounts of stored ammonium nitrate.

The disaster led to the Lebanese government's resignation and compounded Lebanon's severe economic crisis.