In the wake of pronouncing the official verdict by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Lebanese commentators rushed to salute the top investigator into the 2005 suicide attack after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon reached the same conclusions he had reached, before he was also assassinated back in 2008.
Lebanese surprised, disappointed by STL verdict https://t.co/8Wlq9Q5v68
— The Daily Star Lebanon (@DailyStarLeb) August 18, 2020
Wissam Eid was a computer engineer and a senior terrorism investigator at the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, who was able to analyze telephone intercepts between individuals who took part in planning the huge explosion that killed the Lebanese businessman and then Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.
In his investigation, that ended by his assassination in Beirut in January 2008, Eid had exposed the main names of people involved in Al-Hariri case. This resulted in him receiving several death threats and surviving a previous shooting near his house in 2006.
The mostly unknown story of the Hariri Tribunal is that of senior Lebanese ISF intelligence officer Wissam Eid, a computer genius who cracked the Hezbollah mobile phone network that became the central prosecution evidence in the STL. Eid was assassinated in a car bomb in 2008. pic.twitter.com/0geqJ8bH6I
— Oz Katerji (@OzKaterji) August 18, 2020
The martyr Wissam Eid was murdered, alongside 12 others, by a suicide bomber on January 25th 2008, after informing his family of death threats from Hezbollah. He was 31 years old. Remember his name today as the verdicts are read out. pic.twitter.com/vU9fnERaQ1
— Oz Katerji (@OzKaterji) August 18, 2020
According to the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon, one of four main suspects tried in absentia, Salim Ayyash, was convicted of "having had a central role in the bomb attack in Beirut that killed Hariri back in 2005 ," while three others were acquitted by the international court.
وسام عيد، لروحك الرحمة ❤️ pic.twitter.com/X6yaiUQeWU
— Dima ديما صادق (@DimaSadek) August 18, 2020
Translation: "Wissam Eid, Rest in Peace."
While the STL couldn't establish concrete evidence that Hizbollah or the Syrian government are directly involved in the bombing that killed a total of 22 people, the BBC reported that the court associated Ayyash with the Iranian-backed militia, saying that "he was a well-connected, mid-level operative in Hezbollah."
The entire #STL case is built on mobile telephone networks-cracked by ISF officer #WissamEid singlehandedly using nothing more than excel sheets and raw telecom data. He was killed for it and then prosecutor #SergeBrammertz sat on the info for a year. No one was held accountable
— Maha Yahya (@mahamyahya) August 18, 2020
#وسام_عيد كشف ما لم تجرأ #المحكمة_الدولية التكلم عنه!
— Charbel Ters||شربل الترس (@CharbelTers3) August 18, 2020
لروحه الرحمة?...ارقد بسلام يا جار? pic.twitter.com/kJTiXvHetA
Translation: "Wissam Eid had revealed everything the international court wasn't brave enough to expose. Rest in peace neighbor."
Social media commentators also questioned whether the convicted individual Ayyash will be handed to the international court or not, especially that he is still on the loose most probably in Lebanon.
يُقال إنّ الحقيقة لا تدنّس قضيةً محقّة. لكن الاعتراف بالحقيقة يتطلّب قوة وشجاعة. فهل سيتمّ تسليم #سليم_عيّاش وهل سيضغط رئيس الجمهورية كي تُطبّق العدالة فينقذ ما يمكن انقاذه في ما تبقى من عهده وتذوب ٨ و١٤ في جبهة وطنية موحّدة تنتشل الوطن من القعر؟ #رفيق_الحريري #المحكمة_الدولية
— Ricardo Karam (@RicardoRKaram) August 18, 2020
Translation: "They say that truth always rules in just cases, but admitting the truth requires a lot of courage. Will Salim Ayyash be handed over to the authorities? Will the President be pressured to enforce justice so he saves whatever is left of the country. Will the two divisions in the country become unified to rescue the country from its misery?"
