Date: Jul 11, 2020 Source: The Daily Star STL to issue verdict in Hariri case next month BEIRUT: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon will issue its verdict in the case of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Aug. 7, the court said Friday. "The Judgment will be delivered from the courtroom with partial virtual participation," the court said in a statement on its website. The STL had initially set mid-May as the date to announce the verdict but it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Salim Ayyash along with defendants Hasan Merhi, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra are currently being tried in absentia for their alleged involvement in the 2005 attack that killed Hariri and 21 others. Concluding arguments in the case were delivered in September 2018 and judges have since been deliberating their verdict. The four defendants are known to be members of Hezbollah, but they are on trial as individuals. Hezbollah as an organization has not been indicted for the bombing. Ayyash also faces charges of the intentional homicide of George Hawi and others, the attempted intentional homicide of former minsters Marwan Hamadeh and Elias Murr and 17 others. These crimes were found to be connected to the Hariri attack in 2005.