Hariri suspects to be tried in absentia

NEW YORK, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The independent U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister will try four men in absentia, officials said.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague in the Netherlands last July identified four Lebanese nationals -- Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Husein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra -- as suspects in the car bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others on Feb. 14, 2005.

At least 231 other people were injured by the powerful blast that rocked the Beirut motorcade.

"The indictment charges all four men with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act," the U.N. News Center said Thursday. "Mr. Ayyash and Mr. Badredine are also charged with committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device, intentional homicide with premeditation, and attempted intentional homicide."

CNN said investigators used cellphone records to place Ayyash in the vicinity of the place where the van used in the bombing was bought. Oneissi and Sabra made calls to news agencies after the bombing and are charged as accomplices.

The special tribunal did not announce a date for the trial to begin.