The Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Monday issued a public arrest for Hassan Merhi, who the tribunal indicted for the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafiq Hariri.
“A new arrest warrant has been issued for Mr. Hassan Habib Merhi who is accused to have been involved in the 14 February 2005 attack in Beirut,” a statement issued by the Tribunal said.
The STL’s indictment—which was filed in on June 5, 2013 but not made public until Thursday—charged Merhi with one count of “conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act” and four other counts of being an accomplice to the killing.
The STL said in a statement that Merhi coordinated with the other alleged conspirators to prepare the false claim of responsibility issued following Hariri’s murder and was also involved with efforts to coordinate the attack.
According to the STL, Merhi was born on December 12, 1965 and was a resident of the Bourj al-Barajneh area in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh suburbs.
Following the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others, Al-Jazeera ran a tape on behalf of a fictional Islamist terror group claiming responsibility for the attack.
In 2011 the UN-backed court four Hezbollah members—Mustafa Badreddine, 52, Salim Ayyash, 49, Hussein Anaissi, 39, and Assad Sabra, 36—for Hariri’s murder.
The tribunal has set a provisional January, 2014 start date for the blockbuster trial.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/stl-publicizes-arrest-warrant-against-merhi
