URL https://www.reuters.com/article/us-warcrimes-lebanon-tribunal/lebanons-pm-designate-hariri-says-hes-not-seeking-revenge-for-fathers-murder-idUSKCN1LR1EF

DATE/ AUTHOR 2018-09-11 14:34:47+00:00	AUTHORS: Stephanie Van Den Berg, Min Read

H Lebanon's PM-designate Hariri says he's not seeking revenge for father's murder

S1 THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said on Tuesday he is not seeking revenge for the 2005 car bombing that killed his father, ex-premier Rafik Hariri, and that he would act to preserve stability in his country.

S2 Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri speaks to the media in front of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon ahead of the closings arguments in the trial of Lebanon's Rafik al-Hariri alleged killers in the Hague, the Netherlands September 11, 2018.
S3 Bas Czerwinski/Pool via REUTERS

S4 He spoke as prosecutors presented closing arguments in the case before a U.N.-backed tribunal against four suspects accused of carrying out the attack that killed Hariri and 21 others.

S5 “We have always wanted justice and have not resorted to revenge,” Hariri, who attended the court session in The Hague, told journalists.
S6 He added that dealing with the assassination of his father in court was difficult as a son but he had to put his feelings aside.

S7 “There are things that hurt, but when in a position of responsibility, we have to look at the country’s interest.”

S8 Four alleged members of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement have been tried in absentia on charges of planning and executing the bombing in Beirut, which rocked the religiously divided country.

S9 Wrapping up the prosecution case, Nigel Povoas said that Lebanon had been “plunged into darkness and horror” by the murder of Hariri.

S10 GUILTY AS CHARGED

S11 The prosecution presented a “mosaic of evidence...(that) leaves no reasonable doubt that all are guilty as charged,” Povoas said.

S12 The trial lasted more than four years during which 307 witnesses were called.
S13 The defendants, who remain at large, face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

S14 In the absence of a smoking gun, prosecutors presented a complicated case based mostly on identifying five different, overlapping networks of disposable phones they said were used to carry out the bombing and attempt to manipulate media coverage afterwards by orchestrating a false claim of responsibility.

S15 On Tuesday, prosecutors also focused on the links between the four accused, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Assad Hassan Sabra and Hussein Hassan Oneissi, to Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah.
S16 The four “shared a bond, in their common support for and links to Hezbollah”, he said.

S17 Hezbollah denies any role in the killing of Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who had close ties with Iran’s regional adversary Saudi Arabia, and dismissed the tribunal as a tool of Israel and the United States.

S18 The closing arguments will run until Sept. 21 with the defense expected to start on Friday.
S19 No date has been set for a verdict but it is expected next year.

