While the decisions made by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon regarding Hezbollah were no longer surprising, as officials were convicted of involvement in the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the recent ruling did manage to shake the local arena. According to opposition political sources to "Al-Markazia," it reminds us that one of the Lebanese components participated in the elimination of one of the most prominent political figures in both modern and historical Lebanon.
The Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon unanimously imposed a life sentence, multiplied by five, on both Hasan Merhi and Hussein Anisi for their conviction in the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The court indicated that "this sentence is the harshest punishment stipulated in the statute and rules, for each of the five crimes for which they were convicted, and decided that the penalties should be executed simultaneously."
The prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Norman Farrell, called on "those who protect the three defendants to hand them over to the court, and for the international community to take any available steps to assist in their arrest." Farrell stated: "Today, we witnessed the completion of these proceedings against the defendants Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hasan Habib Merhi, and Hussein Hasan Anisi due to their heinous acts in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which caused unimaginable pain and suffering for many victims and their families. Their efforts to deceive the public and shield themselves from justice and remain unaccountable have failed. They were sentenced today for their crimes."
Furthermore, he stressed: "We must remember that this is not the last step toward accountability. Justice demands their capture. I call on those who protect the three defendants from justice to hand them over to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and I urge the international community to take any available steps to assist in their arrest."
Based on this, sources believe that the Lebanese state faces a new test, as does the Lebanese judiciary. Will they act to arrest the defendants? Will they at least issue positions condemning the team that planned the crime and hides and protects the killers, considering them as saints? Or will all these parties remain silent?
Moreover, the sources assert that the Ministry of Justice should be entrusted, in the yet-to-be-formed new government, to a clean, independent minister who owes no loyalty to any political faction, so he can make headway in the numerous hefty files piled on his desk, from the assassination of Hariri to the Beirut Port explosion, as well as the assassination of intellectual and opinion leaders in Lebanon. Can such a miracle be realized, or is impunity and evasion of accountability a written destiny that will continue in our nation?
