A Hezbollah member has been found guilty by a tribunal of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri had been killed in a truck-bomb attack.

The court yesterday, however, had acquitted 3 others, Assad Hassan Sabra, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Hassan Habib Merhi, of having been part of the attack, due to insufficient evidence.

Arab News reports that 21 other people had also been killed in the 2005 attack.

The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the Netherlands delivered the verdicts after more than 15 years following Hariri’s killing, and 13 years after investigations had been begun by the court. Arab News reports that the tribunal ruled that 56-year-old Salim Jamil Ayyash, had been “the main criminal in the Hariri assassination and a co-conspirator in a plot to commit a terrorist act.” It said Ayyash had links with Hezbollah, and that both the group and Syria had benefited from Hariri’s assassination. There was, however, according to the court, no evidence that Hezbollah’s leaders, and Syria, were responsible for the assassination.

The tribunal ruled that Hariri’s killing was an “act of terrorism designed to cause fear in the Lebanese population.”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of Rafik Hariri, said his family accepted the tribunal’s verdict. He said, “The time for political crimes that go unpunished is over. We will not rest until the punishment is implemented.” He added, “The Lebanese want truth and justice.”

Special Tribunal Judge, David Re, said that the evidence indicates that the assassination of Hariri had political links, but does not prove who ordered his assassination. He said Harir’s assassination was a political act by those who viewed Hariri as a threat to their activities.

Ayyash, was tried in absentia. His sentencing will take place on Friday.

Umm Muhammed Umar