(New York Times) Marlise Simons - The long-awaited verdict Tuesday from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon - which was created in 2009 at the behest of the UN Security Council after the suicide car bomb attack in Beirut in 2005 that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others - disappointed many Lebanese. Three defendants were acquitted for lack of evidence, while a fourth, Hizbullah member Salim Ayyash, was convicted in absentia of participating in a conspiracy to carry out the bombing. The court said it lacked direct evidence implicating Syria and Hizbullah in the crime. In 2005, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis ended a six-month investigation with a list of close to 20 suspects, including several senior Lebanese and top Syrian officials. Diplomats said at the time that Mehlis reluctantly ended his mission because he had been warned about two assassination plots against him. At least two Lebanese police officers who assisted the tribunal's investigations have been killed.
2020-08-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive