By Patrick Galey
BEIRUT: The U.N.-backed court probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri disclosed Wednesday virtually the entire contents of its indictment, revealing what the prosecuting judge believes to be extensive data linking four Hezbollah members to the bombing.

The indictment contains several pages of cell phone data, compiled by investigators, which the prosecution claims proves that the four male suspects had tracked Hariri for three months before a single, male suicide bomber killed the billionaire politician on Feb. 14, 2005.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri urged Hezbollah to cooperate with the tribunal, in the light of evidence contained within the document.

“I honestly and sincerely look forward to a historic stance from the part of the leadership of Hezbollah, and from [Secretary-General] Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in particular, in order to put an end to the policy of rushing ahead, and to announce full cooperation with the Special Tribunal,” a statement from Hariri’s office said.
Nasrallah in a televised speech later Wednesday dismissed the indictment’s findings and described those accused as “honorable.”

“This indictment only boosts our confidence today that what is happening is a high level of injustice and politicization and these honorable members of the resistance should not even be described as accused,” Nasrallah said.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the Lebanese to deal with the release of the indictment with “a deep sense of national responsibility” in order to maintain security and stability.

“The release of the indictment … is an expected step in the framework of measures taken by the tribunal with regard to the U.N. investigation into the crime,” Mikati said during an iftar with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Grand Serail.
He said he hoped that the U.N. investigation would reveal the “full truth and achieve right and justice, while maintaining Lebanon’s stability, unity and security.”

The confirmation of the indictment means that Fransen believes Bellemare has gathered sufficient prima face evidence in order to successfully launch a prosecution of the accused. Parts of the indictment were redacted, in order to protect the identities of possible witnesses or suspects, according to the court.

“[Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)] Pre-Trial Judge [Daniel Fransen] found that the indictment meets the requirements with regard to the specific facts and grounds as required under international case law, the Statute and the Rules [of Procedure and Evidence],” a decision from the court stated.

The court also released the full arrest warrants for Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hasan Sabra, the four men accused on various counts of terrorism and intentional homicide.
Badreddine, according to the indictment, “served as the overall controller of the operation.” Ayyash “coordinated the assassination team, which was responsible for the physical preparation of the attack.”

Oneissi and Sabra “had the task of preparing the false claim of responsibility, which served to identify the wrong people to investigate, in order to shield the conspirators from justice,” the indictment claimed.

Bellemare, using the legal principle of co-location, linked several closed and personal cell phone networks to the four individuals and alleged that the assassination hit squad had began monitoring Hariri’s movements as early as Nov. 11, 2004.

The so-called “Red network,” which was activated in Tripoli on Jan. 4 and ceased all activity two minutes before the attack, belonged to Ayyash and seven as yet unidentified accomplices.

“The [redacted]-member assassination team was led by Ayyash and the other [redacted] members of that team are unidentified at present. The assassination team conducted surveillance and physically carried out the attack,” the indictment said.

Bellemare, who wrote in the document that most of the evidence he had compiled was circumstantial, was unequivocal that the fact that the last 33 calls on the Red Network were made in the vicinity of the bombing in the hours leading to the attack put Ayyash and others at the scene of the crime.

“In short, these parallel movements of Hariri and the Blue Phones and Red Network phones cannot be explained as mere coincidence,” the prosecutor wrote.Bellemare’s investigation allegedly discovered the final movements of the white Mitsubishi Canter van, loaded with two and a half tons of TNT, which killed Hariri and 22 others, as well as wounding more than 200.

Forensic examination from the blast site “established both that the remains [of the bomber] were: a) of a male, and b) not of [Ahmad] Abu Adass,” according to the indictment.

Adass, who was roped into the conspiracy and appeared in a video claiming responsibility for the attack the day after, proved to be the link to Oneissi and Sabra, according to the indictment. He was approached by Oneissi near a mosque where he prayed in December 2004 and disappeared after meeting with Oneissi on Jan. 16, 2005.

The indictment claimed that the role of Oneissi and Sabra was to “create a false trail away from Beirut,” adding that the assassination team had conducted all traceable acts, such as purchasing the phones and vehicle used for the attack, in Tripoli.

Although the tribunal has repeatedly stressed it would seek to indict individuals and not political parties, Bellemare included the fact that all four accused are “supporters of Hezbollah.” Going further with Badreddine and Ayyash, who are related to the party’s former military commander Imad Mughniyeh, Bellemare concluded that given the pair’s standing in Hezbollah, they “had the capability” to kill Hariri.
The Canadian judge welcomed Fransen’s decision to publish the full indictment.

“This Order will finally inform the public and the victims about the facts alleged in the indictment regarding the commission of the crime that led to charging the four accused,” Bellemare said. “This unsealing of the indictment answers many questions about the 14 February 2005 attack. The full story will however only unfold in the courtroom, where an open, public, fair and transparent trial will render a final verdict.”

Last week, STL President Antonio Cassese urged the accused to come forward to the court and seek legal counsel. Lebanese security services have been unable to apprehend the four suspects.