Lebanon: Hariri murder trial sentencing due on December 11

An international court found that Salim Ayyash was behind the 2005 killing of the Lebanese former prime minister

Rafik Hariri, left, and his bodyguard Yahya Arab, leave the Parliament in Beirut, Lebanon in 2005. Minutes later, Hariri and several of his bodyguards were killed in a massive bomb explosion. AP

The site of devastation where former Lebanon prime minister Hariri was assassinated in the blast in Beirut on February 14, 2005. AFP

Supporters of former Lebanese prime minister Hariri after Hariri's death outside his house in Beirut. AFP

The national flag-draped coffin of Hariri is carried to his final resting place in central Beirut two days after the killing. AFP

Saad Hariri and other family members leave their family home to join the funeral procession. AFP

A combination of handout pictures obtained on July 29, 2011 from the website of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon shows four Hezbollah suspects indicted in the assassination case of Hariri, (from top left to right) Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Assad Hassan Sabra, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Salim Jamil Ayyash. AFP

An avenue in central Beirut destroyed by 18 months of civil war is pictured, November 15, 1976. AFP

Hariri on October 22, 1992 in Beirut, after being nominated as prime minister by then president Elias Hrawi. AFP

Hariri and his wife Nazic on September 1, 1996 in their villa in Beirut. AFP

Then French president Jacques Chirac greets Hariri at the Elysee Palace in Paris, September 28, 1996. AFP

Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father, meets Hariri in Dubai on March 17, 1999. Hariri was in Dubai for a three-day official visit. AFP

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed, then Crown Prince of Dubai, drives Hariri in Dubai on March 6, 2000. AFP

Hariri meets Syrian President Bashar al Assad on the sidelines of the Arab summit in Beirut, March 27, 2002. AFP

Lebanese policemen gather at the site where outgoing economy and trade minister Marwan Hamadeh's car was targeted by a bomb in Beirut on October 1, 2004. AFP

The Hariri monument in Beirut. Reuters

The man found guilty of the assassination of Lebanese former prime minister Rafik Hariri will be sentenced on December 11, the international tribunal in the Netherlands that convicted him said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors are asking for a life sentence.

The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicted Salim Ayyash, 57, of the 2005 murder but acquitted three others after a trial that ended on August 18.

The four were suspected of being members of Hezbollah, a political party and powerful militia organisation that is designated as a terrorist group by countries such as the US, Germany and the UK.

None of the men turned up for the trial after the Shiite group's secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, refused to hand them over.

The court found that Ayyash, who is still on the run, led the team behind the suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others in Beirut. The blast also wounded 226 people.

Hariri served as Lebanon's prime minister from 1992 until 1998 and from 2000 until he resigned in October 2004.

He was killed in February 2005 when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a van as Hariri's armoured convoy drove past.

Prosecutors relied on telecoms data that they argued was able to show how the plot was organised.