Killer of Lebanon’s Hariri, Hezbollah member Ayyash, to be sentenced on December 11

The killer of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri will be sentenced on December 11, the Netherlands-based tribunal that convicted him said on Tuesday, with prosecutors asking for a life sentence.

The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicted Salim Ayyash, 57, of the 2005 murder but acquitted three others after a trial that ended on August 18.

The four were alleged members of the Hezbollah and none turned up for the trial after Shia movement’s chief Hassan Nasrallah refused to hand them over.

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The court found that Ayyash, who is still on the run, led the team behind the suicide bombing that killed the Sunni billionaire politician and 21 other people in Beirut.

Hariri served as Lebanon’s prime minister until he resigned in October 2004.

He was killed in February 2005 when a suicide bomber detonated a van filled with explosives as his armoured convoy drove past. As well as those killed, another 226 were wounded in the blast.

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