"Mr Ayyash participated in an act of terrorism that caused mass murder," chief Judge David Re said as he announced the sentence. The attack on Hariri, who served as Lebanon's prime minister until he resigned in October 2004, changed the face of the Middle East. The UN Security Council agreed in 2007 to establish the court, billed as the world's first international tribunal set up to probe terrorist crimes. It opened its doors in 2009, although the Hariri trial itself did not formally start until 2014. Ayyash faces a separate case at the tribunal over three other deadly attacks on Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005.

Source: Dhaka Tribune December 11, 2020 13:18 UTC