On appeal, UN-backed court convicts 2 in Hariri killing

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Appeals judges at a U.N.-backed tribunal have overturned acquittals of two members of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The five-judge appeals panel at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicted the two of five charges linked to the assassination. The unanimous appeals decision on Thursday said that judges in the original trial verdict committed errors of law and fact leading to a miscarriage of justice. The two men were cleared in 2020 of involvement in the assassination while a third Hezbollah member was convicted of involvement in the 2005 suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.