By Adom M. Cooper
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
BEIRUT, Lebanon–In its investigation of the killing of former President Rafiq al-Hariri involving a car bomb in 2005, The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has removed confidentiality restrictions on an indictment issued against four individuals.
The four individuals are: Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra. All are members of Hezbollah.
The lift on the confidentiality restrictions means that details of the cases against these four men named as suspects by the tribunal in June 2011 and subject to arrest warrants can be revealed for the first time.
The focal point of the documents is a network of phones that were allegedly used by the suspects in coordinating and executing the attack that claimed the lives of 21 people. The indictment contains details that an assassination team consisting of Ayyah and others positioned themselves in several different locations where they were able to observe and track Hariri’s movements. The team had done this on several occasions leading up to the attack.
The 47-page indictment provides a timeline of Hariri’s movement up until 12:55 local time, “when a male suicide bomber detonated a large quantity of explosives concealed in the cargo area of a van, killing Hariri and 21 other victims and injuring a total of 231.”
Investigators on the case conceded that the evidence gathered is chiefly circumstantial because it is based on phone networks. Kamel Wazni, a political analyst in Beirut, admitted that the evidence released does not possess any real independent clout.
“This is based entirely on phone networks. This doesn’t prove those people are behind it. Hezbollah sees these claims as a fabrication, and there is no concrete evidence that links them to the assassination.”
The indictment also detailed how after the explosion rocked the nation, Oneissi and Sabra called Reuters and Al-Jazeera, informing Al-Jazeera on the location of a videotape placed in a tree near ESCWA in Beirut. The video aired on television and showed Ahmad Abu Adass, a man who claimed to be the suicide bomber on behalf of a fictitious extremist group.
It is further revealed that Ayyash and Badreddine are related to each other and also to Imad Mughniyeh, a member of Hezbollah who was assassinated in Syria during 2008. This revelation is the first official documentation to show a concrete connection between the suspects here and other members of Hezbollah.
Tribunal prosecutor Daniel Bellemare shared these sentiments concerning the details of the indictment.
“Oneissi and Sabra, in addition to being conspirators, prepared and delivered the false claim of responsibility video, which sought to blame the wrong people, in order to shield the conspirators from justice. This order will finally inform the public and the victims about the facts alleged in the indictment regarding the commission of the crime that led to charging the four accused.”
The STL, established in 2007, has had a rather polarizing effect on Lebanese politics. One school of thought believes the STL is pushing forward a plan to bring down Hezbollah and the other believes the court is the only institution that will be able to objectively rule on Hariri’s killing.
For more information, please see:
Ahram-UN-backed tribunal publishes Lebanon’s Hariri indictment-17 August 2011
Al-Jazeera-UN tribunal releases Hariri indictment-17 August 2011
BBC-Hezbollah suspects to be tried over Rafik Hariri-17 August 2011
The Telegraph-Lebanon indictment: Rafiq Hariri tracked for three months with elaborate phone network-17 August 2011
