Lebanon braces for Hariri verdict
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A special court in the Netherlands is due to deliver its verdict in the trial of four suspects accused of orchestrating the 2005 Beirut bombing that killed Lebanon’s former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri
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BEIRUT

Feb 14, 2005 motorcade

12:55: Bomb explodes

Port of Beirut

10:41: Hariri leaves home

10:54-11:56: Hariri attends Parliament

1km 0.6 miles
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LEBANON
Damascus
SYRIA
ISRAEL
Beirut

40km 25 miles
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Feb 14, 2005: Rafik Hariri is killed when massive bomb explodes as his motorcade passes Saint Georges hotel on waterfront. 21 others also die
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Mar-Apr: Cedar Revolution – Huge anti-Syria protests force withdrawal of Syrian troops after 29-year deployment
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Oct: Initial UN investigation implicates Syria in Hariri murder – Syria denies any role
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May 2007: UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) established
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2009: STL orders release of four pro-Syrian generals held since 2005 for Hariri killing, citing lack of sufficient evidence
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2011: STL issues arrest warrants for four suspects linked to Shia movement Hezbollah
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2013: STL indicts fifth suspect
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2014: Trial opens in The Hague
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2016: Mustafa Badreddine, one of four initially indicted, dies while fighting with Hezbollah in Syria
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Aug 7, 2020: Verdict delivered in trial in absentia of (L-R) Salim Ayyash, Hassan Merhi, Assad Sabra and Hussein Oneissi – for Hariri’s assassination
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Sources: STL, Reuters, BBC, NYT
Pictures: Getty Images, STL
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