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SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON

Special Tribunal for Lebanon sentences Merhi and Oneissi to life in prison

Special Tribunal for Lebanon sentences Merhi and Oneissi to life in prison

A portrait of Rafik Hariri in a street in Beirut. (Credit: AFP archive photo)

BEIRUT — The Special Tribunal for Lebanon sentenced Habib Merhi and Hussein Oneissi to life imprisonment Thursday, after they were convicted for the February 14, 2005, bombing that killed 22, including former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harriri, and injured 226.

Here’s what we know:

  • “The Appeals Court unanimously sentenced Messrs Merhi and Oneissi to life imprisonment, the heaviest sentence [the court is empowered to hand down], for each of the five crimes for which they have been convicted; their sentences shall run concurrently,” the STL announced. The pair have been convicted of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act; being an accomplice to the felony of committing a terrorist act; being an accomplice to the felony of intentional homicide; and being an accomplice to the felony of attempted intentional homicide.

  • Rafik Hariri’s son, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, responded to the verdict, saying “the punishment is the most severe stipulated in the statute and the rules adopted in the court, but it is the clearest in terms of condemning Hezbollah as the party responsible for organizing and committing the crime, and the party that cannot evade the responsibility of handing over those convicted and carrying out the punishment against them. History will not be merciful.”

  • Merhi and Oneissi were found guilty on appeal in March after they were tried in absentia. The STL had convicted Salim Ayyash in 2020 but did not find sufficient evidence to do the same to Assad Sabra, Oneissi and Merhi. Prosecutors appealed the acquittal of Oneissi and Merhi. The subsequent conviction was based on mobile phone records that prosecutors said showed a Hezbollah cell was plotting the attack.

  • The pair have been associated with Hezbollah, leading to doubts that they would serve their sentences as the group has refused to turn them in. If they are incarcerated, the concurrent sentencing ordered by Judge Ivana Hrdličková means they will serve the sentences for the different crimes of which they were convicted simultaneously with the longest sentence being in effect.

  • Rafik Hariri, who had stepped down as Lebanon's prime minister in October, 2004, was killed in a February 14, 2005, suicide blast targeting his armoured convoy at the Beirut seafront. The attack triggered protests that drove Syria out of Lebanon after a 29-year military deployment. The court was born out of a United Nations Security Council resolution and eventually tried four suspects in absentia: Salim Ayyash, Habib Merhi, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra.

BEIRUT — The Special Tribunal for Lebanon sentenced Habib Merhi and Hussein Oneissi to life imprisonment Thursday, after they were convicted for the February 14, 2005, bombing that killed 22, including former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harriri, and injured 226.Here’s what we know:  • “The Appeals Court unanimously sentenced Messrs Merhi and Oneissi to life imprisonment, the...