Lebanon tribunal sentences two men to life imprisonment for Hariri bombing

Appeals judges at the Lebanon Tribunal on Thursday sentenced two men to life imprisonment for their role in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. The men remain at large and have been tried and convicted in absentia by the UN-backed, The Hague-based Lebanon tribunal.

"The attack terrorized not only the direct victims but more generally the people of Lebanon", presiding judge Ivana Hrdlickova said as she handed down the maximum sentence on Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi. In March this year the appeals chamber reversed an earlier acquittal and found Merhi and Oneissi guilty on charges of terrorism and murder.

The 2005 bombing killed veteran Sunni Muslim politician Hariri and 21 others. The Lebanon tribunal was created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution.

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