Prosecutor appeals special Lebanon tribunal ruling in Hariri case

A prosecutor at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Wednesday he had appealed its ruling in the 2005 murder of prime minister Rafiq Hariri, which acquitted three men and found one guilty.

Prosecutor Norman Farrell “filed a Notice of Appeal before the Appeals Chamber of the STL alleging errors of law and errors of fact in the Judgment of the Trial Chamber, rendered 18 August 2020,” a statement said.

“The Prosecutor submitted that such errors invalidate the Judgment and occasion a miscarriage of justice,” it added, without giving further details.

Four suspected members of the Lebanese Islamic movement Hezbollah were tried in absentia for Hariri’s assassination in February 2005, a huge attack that killed 21 others and wounded 226.

A suicide bomber detonated a small van full of explosives as Hariri’s armoured convoy passed.

On December 11, the Netherlands-based court sentenced Salim Ayyash, 57, to five life terms following his conviction in August.

He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, committing a terrorist act using an explosive device, the “intentional homicide” of Hariri and of 21 other people, and attempted homicide of those injured in the attack.

But the court ruled there lacked evidence to convict the three other defendants — Assad Sabra, Hussein Oneissi and Hassan Habib Merhi.

Ayyash remains on the run, with Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Shiite Hezbollah movement, refusing to hand him over or to recognise the UN-backed court.

The court has issued an international warrant for his arrest.