A paramedic in Mr. Hariri's convoy ambulance testifies

The next witness on the stand was Mr. Rachid Hammoud, a Lebanese paramedic. He testifies that in 2004, there was always one ambulance accompanying Mr. Hariri's convoy, another was kept ready for special circumstances. One ambulance would have one driver and two paramedics. The ambulance would always be the last car in the convoy. On the 14th February 2005, the day of the explosion, the witness sat in the back of the ambulance, so he did not see what happened outside. As a result of the explosion, the witness fainted, and when he regained his conscience, he climbed outside of the ambulance through the roof.

Mr. Hariri's paramedic team consisted of ten paramedics. Whenever he would travel with his convoy, also abroad, the ambulance would follow the convoy. When traveling by plane, medical suitcases would be brought along.

The witness estimates that the ambulance was at approximately 50 meters distance from the last car in the convoy, though this distance is fiercely debated during cross-examination of this witness. Because of this distance, normally the jammers would not affect the radio. If the car would come closer than that, you would hear some buzzing, and you would not be able to make any calls. 

Witness at Lebanon Tribunal describes the assassination: "And I saw hell"

On 16 October the next Prosecution witness was also a surviver from the convoy of Mr. Hariri that was attacked on 14 February 2005 and killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Mr. Rafik Hariri and 21 others.  Like the previous testimony, Mr. Amer Chehadeh was a security guard for Mr. Hariri and had been working for the Hariri family since 1985. When Mr. Hariri became Prime Minister the witness became a close protection officer for him until the time of his assassination. This witness also traveled with Mr. Hariri throughout Lebanon and abroad.

On the day of the assassination, there was only one car of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) in Mr. Hariri's convoy, that was the lead vehicle. When Mr. Hariri was still Prime Minister, he had much more security than afterwards. At the time of the assassination, there were only some 35 to 40 ISF members assigned to his protection, whilst during his premiership there were some 400 protecting him.

[Screenshot of Mr. Amer Chehadeh.]

Normally, Mr. Chehadeh did not drive in the convoy, but would only do so when the team was not complete.

In the weeks leading up to the bomb attack, Mr. Abou-Tareq, the head of security, had given instructions to the security personnel to remain alert, though he testifies that they never felt any danger or threat; they never expected what happened, they never thought of that. They sometimes used a decoy technique, where they would create a second convoy, sent to act as a decoy.

In each car of the convoy, it would be the person in charge of the car who was responsible for the turning on and off of the jamming device (see yesterday's blog for Witness 76 on jamming devices). To check whether the device worked, they would turn the radio on: if the radio would no longer be operational, the device would work. Even television sets in the nearby areas would stop working when the jammers were turned on. They discuss one of Mr. Chehadeh's colleagues who was absent on 14 February 2005, the day of the assassination. That person will also be testifying in court under the pseudonym PRH247. This person still works for the Hariri family.

Mr. Chehadeh further testifies about that day, that he did not notice anything that caused him concern on that day and when reaching the St. Georges Hotel; he saw nothing out of the ordinary. This witness remembers the explosion itself, and he testifies:

"As far as I remember, I heard a loud noise and the vehicle flew. It was no longer on the ground and then it hit the ground very hard. I asked the person next to me: Are you okay? He said: Yes. I went out of the car and looked to my back and I saw hell. It was fire everywhere, smoke, and I understood that it was an explosion."

In cross-examination, the witness is asked about the vehicles of Mr. Hariri's convoy, and who would have access to them overnight. This would be virtually anyone within the residence; there were no locked doors but CCTV cameras.

Regarding the jammers, the witness testifies that they would normally check whether they were working immediately after switching them on; they would not check them again whilst driving.

The witness testifies about an ambulance that was at quite a close distance behind the convoy. In an earlier statement (a public document, but unfortunately not available on the Court's website) the witness had indicated that he had heard that the radio was on in the ambulance. Given that the effective range of the jammers was approximately hundred meters, and the ambulance was much closer to the convoy than that, the logical conclusion would be that something was wrong with the jammers.

When they arrived at the St. Georges Hotel on the particular day, the witness had not seen anything out of the ordinary; he did not see any truck or van parked outside the hotel. Double-parked vehicles were a very normal sight in Lebanon, but he saw nothing unusual. This witness finished his testimony within the day, and the subsequent witness, Mr. Dia, was sitting in the same convoy car as Mr. Chehadeh on the day of the assassination.

Witness 76: Survivor of the convoy

In the week of 14 to 17 October 2014, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon saw three Prosecution witnesses testify about their experiences as victims of the attack on former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's convoy on 14 February 2005.

The first witness testified on 14 and 15 October under protective measures and is indicated by the pseudonym PRH076, or in short "Witness 76". His identity and voice were obscured during his testimony in court.

[Screenshot of witness PRH076 testifying with protective measures.]

Witness 76 had been employed by Mr. Hariri since 1995 and from 2000 onwards had been his close protection officer.

In his testimony, Witness 76 explains the protection of Rafik Hariri, who at the time that he was Prime Minister was usually guarded by his personal body guards as well as officers from the Internal Security Forces (ISF). He normally drove an armoured car that provided protection against light bombs and bullets. The other cars in such convoy were not armoured. The witness testifies that the cars in the convoy were fitted with jammers, except for Mr. Hariri's vehicle. These devices would jam any remotely detonated explosives. Also on the 14th of February 2005, these jammers had been turned on. When the explosion occurred, the witness had lost his consciousness and when he awoke he was in the hospital; an hour after the explosion he realised that Mr. Hariri had been assassinated.

The witness testifies about meetings Mr. Hariri had had with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Syria. He mentions one particular trip to Syria, when Mr. Hariri met the Syrian President. Mr Hariri returned from that meeting and he was very upset. According to the witness, they had discussed the extension of Mr. Hariri's presidential term; this was between 2004 and 2005. The witness describes that the bodyguards were warned about the threat posed by Hezbollah. Prior to the assassination, there had been an unspecified security threat that they had been informed of.

Witness 76 describes the details of the convoy on the day of the assassination up until the explosion took place. The witness also testifies about a threat he received some two years after the assassination, when he received a phone call and a person told him that "[i]f you do not change what you said to the Tribunal, you are going to follow your colleagues who died before you". The witness, however, does not seem too concerned about it when he tells the court that "if someone really wanted to hurt me, they would have done so after the first phone call that I've received".  The witness informs the court that all information relating to his testimony had been broadcast by some Lebanese television stations, and that all that information had been accessible to the public.

On the second day of his testimony in court, Witness 76 was cross-examined by defence counsel Mr. Edwards, representing the interests of defendant Badreddine. He confronted Witness 76 with evidence that not all the jammers in all the cars functioned properly on the day in question. A witness testifying in court next week would make such declaration in court, therewith undermining this witness's statement that all the jammers were functioning properly. The witness was also confronted with Mr. Wissam Al-Hasan, Mr. Hariri's chief of protocol who was absent at the day of the assassination, which arouse suspicion at a later stage, and this obviously forms an interesting theory for defence counsel representing the interests of the five absent accused. 

Another survivor from Mr. Hariri's convoy: Mr. Dia

The subsequent witness on 16 and 17 October was Mr. Mohammed Jamal Dia, another survivor from Mr. Hariri's convoy that was attacked on 14 February 2005, and he was sitting in the same car as the previous witness, Mr. Chehadeh (see here for our blog post on his testimony). The witness was the person in charge in that particular car at that day and he was specifically assigned to be on the lookout. He states he saw nothing out of the ordinary on that day.

Mr. Dia was a close protection officer for Mr. Hariri, having worked for the Hariri family since 1984. He would travel abroad with Mr. Hariri when required to do so. The witness describes the motorcade of Mr. Hariri, including the ISF (Internal Security Forces) jeep in front, the Mercedes that Mr. Hariri drove in, the ambulance at the back of the convoy and several other cars. This witness is also questioned about the jamming devices. When he was Prime Minister, the convoy had been much more extensive than afterwards. Also, when he was still Prime Minister, usually ahead of the convoy there would be an ISF reconnaissance drive to explore the area; this no longer happened when Mr. Hariri was no longer Prime Minister.

Regarding the jammers, the witness recalls on the 14th of February 2005, the day of the explosion, that the son of Mr. Hariri had tried to call him, but had failed to reach him due to the active jamming devices. This evidence is based on hearsay, the witness heard this four or five hours later, when he was at Quraitem Palace. 

On the second day of his testimony, the witness is asked about his (unnamed) colleague who was unexpectedly absent from work on 14 February 2005, due to migraine, from which he sometimes suffered. That day, Mr. Dia was sitting in the car next to the previous witness, Mr. Chehadeh, who was driving the vehicle. After the explosion, Mr. Dia lost his consciousness for a few minutes. After he regained his consciousness, he stepped out of the car. He saw a person lying on the ground, and he was able to identify that person as Mr. Hariri; he could identify him by his wedding ring, and he does not remember seeing his face, and it was clear that he had passed away. 

After the incident, the witness stayed at home for three months to rest. He is cross-examined by defence counsel Mr. Edwards for defendant Mr. Badreddine. Mr. Edwards asks the witness whether there was a debriefing after the attack. The witness denies this, but seems to have suggested something different in an earlier statement Mr. Dia made to the UNIIIC (UN commission investigating the assassination prior to the existence of the STL). In his earlier statement to the UNIIIC, the witness had mentioned authorization documents issued by Rustom Ghazaleh, the head of the Syrian security in Lebanon. When confronted with that information, the witness no longer recalls this information. 

The witness is then shown a security document, a laissez-passer, issued by Syria to Lebanese security personnel, belonging to (protected) witness PRH247. The witness confirms that such documents are very common in Lebanon. About the value of such cards, he states that they have no value, but some people like to have them, others don't.  The witness does not recall ever having been offered such a document, and he never obtained one. 

The first week of Prosecution evidence

On Thursday 23 January, the Prosecution finished questioning its expert witness Robyn Fraser on surveillance camera footage close to the assassination location. She was subsequently cross-examined by Mr. Edwards, counsel for the accused Badreddine and on behalf of the other defence teams. A few of the elements Mr. Edwards brought out in cross-examination were that there was no footage available of the explosion itself and further that the Lebanese authorities failed to deliver requested footage to Ms. Fraser, indicating that CCTV footage from the traffic traveling from north to south in the tunnel was "not available". Even after initially pursuing the matter, Ms. Fraser never obtained this evidence.

The next day, today, the Prosecution called another three witnesses to the stand. The first witness today, the fourth OTP witness, was Mr. Bou Rjeili, testifying through video link from Beirut. His story was similar to that of the first two OTP witnesses, his brother had been killed during the assassination on Rafik Hariri when he worked at the St. George Hotel. The very sad element of this witness's testimony was that his brother had been alive for another twelve hours after the attack, but that the witness and his family were denied entry to the crime site. Consequently, no one had found his brother until the next day, when it was too late and his brother had died.

The fifth witness was subject to protective measures, and his/her testimony was not available to the public through live streaming.

In putting on the stand its sixth witness, the Prosecution ended this week with its most moving story, making sure to impress the judges, the parties and the public. Before Fouad El Zahabi was called to testify, Mr. Milne for the Prosecution requested the judges to play a short video clip that was relevant to this witness's testimony. The Defence objected to this video being played in court, as it argued that its shocking nature outweighed the probative value thereof. Presiding Judge David Re overruled the Defence objection and the Prosecution was allowed to play the video. The video was indeed shocking. It was filmed at the time of the attack, on the location of the attack, and it showed a man in a car catching fire.

Next, the witness was called in by the Prosecutor. The witness was not present during the showing of the video, though he later indicated that he had watched the video on previous occasions, indicating that it had been broadcast on television "many, many times". The person on the video was the witness's brother, who had subsequently died of his injuries in the hospital. The witness, being emotional, indicated that the night before his brother died, his brother had gone to his mother to kiss her goodnight. The witness testified that his mother recalled that kiss every night before she went to sleep. At the end of his testimony, when Judge Re asked the witness whether he had anything else to add, he said that he would like to say to those who ordered, planned or executed the assassination that: "If you are not punished on this earth, God will punish you on Judgement Day".

An appropriate ending of the first week of the Prosecution's case, I would say.