Hariri killing: Hezbollah member convicted of assassinating former Lebanese PM in 2005
- Hariri was Lebanon’s most prominent Sunni politician at the time of his murder, while the Iran-backed Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim group
- Three other suspects were cleared and the UN-backed tribunal found no evidence directly implicating either Hezbollah leadership or the Syrian government
A UN-backed tribunal on Tuesday found a member of the Hezbollah Shiite movement guilty over the 2005 murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri but cleared three other suspects after a years-long trial.
Salim Ayyash, 56, was convicted in absentia by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon based in the Netherlands over a huge suicide bombing in Beirut that killed the Sunni billionaire politician and 21 other people.
“The trial chamber finds Mr Ayyash guilty beyond reasonable doubt as a co-perpetrator of the assassination of Rafik Hariri,” said David Re, presiding judge of the tribunal.
Addressing victims of the attack, he said: “We sincerely hope the verdict today will give you some sort of closure.”
The judges also said there was no evidence to directly link Syria – the former military overlord in Lebanon – or Hezbollah’s leadership to the attack.