Tribunal sentences top defendant in Harir's murder case

The court acquitted three other men charged as collaborators due to insufficient evidence.

The four suspected members of the Shiit Hezbollah militant group were tried in absentia by the Special Court for Lebanon, headquartered in the suburbs of The Hague in the Netherlands.

The trial began in 2014.

Prosecutors based the indictment mainly on cell phone records allegedly used by accused persons to plan and execute murder through the bomb car.

The judges said the evidence showed that the main defendant, Salim Jamil Ayyash, possessed “one of the six mobile phones used by the assassination team” and ruled that he was guilty of committing a terrorist attack and murder.

Ajyash's locations, Hasan Habib Merhi, Hussain Hassan Oneeiss and Assad Hassan Sabra are unknown.

“Tests also confirmed that Ayyash was linked to Hezbollah”, said Judge Michelen Braindy, who was reading a summary of the 2,600-page decision.

However, the judges said they had found no evidence that Hezbollah's leadership, backed by Iran or the Syrian government, had played a role in the February 14th 2005 attack, which left another 21 people dead.

The assassination of Harry, one of Lebanon's most prominent Sunni Muslim politicians, caused rage throughout the country.

Harry, Muslim Sunni, has supported calls for Syria to remove its troops that have been in Lebanon since 1976.

Local and international anger over the attack had prompted Lebanon's pro-Syrian government to resign and for Syria to withdraw troops from this state.

Hezbollah and Damascus have denied involvement in this case.