UN-backed court convicts Hezbollah member in Hariri killing

The trial centered on the alleged roles of four Hezbollah members in the suicide truck bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 21 others and wounded 226 people in 2005. Hariri was Lebanon’s most prominent Sunni politician at the time of his assassination, while the Iran-backed Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim group.

Leidschendam: A UN-backed tribunal on Tuesday convicted one member of the Hezbollah militant group and acquitted three others of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

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 February 14, 2005.

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

AP