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Two receive life sentences for killing of ex-Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri
A UN-backed tribunal on Thursday found two Hezbollah members guilty on appeal for the 2005 death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri (Photo credit: Sharif Karim/Courtesy Reuters)

The Anews reported, citing the DPA, special Tribunal for Lebanon sentenced two men to life imprisonment on Thursday (June 16) for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

It said that the two suspected members of the Shiite Hezbollah movement were convicted by the international tribunal based in Leidschendam, near The Hague, for the terrorist attack that killed a total of 22 people at the time.

Since the defendants Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi are fugitives, the sentence was pronounced in their absence.

Hariri was assassinated by a suicide bomber in February 2005.

On 14 February 2005, former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri was killed along with 21 others in an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.

Twenty-one other people were killed and 226 injured in the attack. Witnesses compared the explosion to an earthquake.

The attack prompted international outrage as well as horror in Lebanon. Syria was suspected to be responsible for the attack.

UN tribunal: Two Hezbollah members guilty on appeal for Rafik Hariri killing

Merhi and Oneissi were acquitted in the first instance. In March, however, the special court overturned this verdict on appeal. The judges announced the sentence on Thursday. The special tribunal had been moved to the Netherlands for security reasons.

At the end of 2020, Lebanese citizen Salim Jamil Ayyash was sentenced to life imprisonment as the main mastermind of the attack.

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It is considered unlikely that the three men will ever serve their sentences.

Hezbollah, which is associated with all three perpetrators, has so far refused to extradite them. Hezbollah is allied with Syria and Iran.

Source: anews