Member of Hezbollah guilty in ex-pm’s death

Three are acquitted in 2005 Lebanon slaying

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands — A U.n.-backed tribunal on Tuesday convicted one member of the Hezbollah militant group and acquitted three others of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri 15 years ago.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Salim Ayyash was guilty as a co-conspirator of five charges linked to his involvement in the suicide truck bombing. Hariri and 21 others were killed and 226 were wounded in a huge blast outside a seaside hotel in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005.

However, after a years-long investigation and trial, three other Hezbollah members were acquitted of all charges that they also were involved in the killing of Hariri, which sent shock waves through the Middle East.

None of the suspects were ever arrested and were not in court to hear the verdicts.

The tribunal’s judges also said there was no evidence the leadership of the Hezbollah militant group and Syria were involved in the attack, despite saying the assassination happened as Hariri and his political allies were discussing calling for an “immediate and total withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon,” Presiding Judge David Re said.

The verdict was met with disappointment in Beirut.

“I am very angry,” said Sami Kara, a Hariri supporter, complaining that after 15 years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the tribunal, it turned out “that one person carried out such a huge crime.”

That money, he said, should have been spent on building power stations in Lebanon, where electricity cuts are common.

When launched in the wake of the attack, the Hariri tribunal raised hopes that for the first time in multiple instances of political violence in Lebanon, the truth would emerge and the perpetrators would be held to account.

But for many in Lebanon, the tribunal failed on both counts. Many of the suspects, including the man convicted Tuesday, are either dead or out of the reach of justice. And the prosecution was unable to present a cohesive picture of the bombing plot or who ordered it.

It was doubtful the verdict, coming 15 years after the assassination and with no defendants in court, would bring closure to those who had been waiting for justice.

Hariri’s son Saad, himself a former Lebanese premier, told journalists outside the court building that the family accepts the verdicts, though he acknowledged that “everybody’s expectation was much higher than what came out.”

“The time when political crimes in Lebanon used to go unpunished are gone,” he said, adding that the family awaits the “implementation of justice.”

A hearing will be held at a later date to determine Ayyash’s sentence. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment.

Hariri supporters in the Beirut district of Tareeq al-jadideh expressed anger and disappointment at the verdicts.

The court had not been expected to rule on either Hezbollah as an organization or Syria — but on the four named Hezbollah suspects — as the tribunal can only accuse individuals, not groups or states. But the fact the tribunal appeared to explicitly and categorically rule out evidence tying Hezbollah’s leadership to the crime was good news for the Iran-backed group, which dominates Lebanese politics and has come under increased scrutiny and pressure at home.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement welcoming the guilty verdict against Ayyash, but he also put blame on Hezbollah.