NNA - Upon resuming the STL court session in The Hague deliberating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Judge Cameron continued outlining the stages of plotting the crime, saying "when Ayyash called person number 5, he was actually summoning the truck to come from South Beirut to the crime scene."



"As Hariri left the House of Representatives, the truck was in good position to progress in front of the convoy, but Hariri came out of the Parliament to a Coffee Shop, and person number 9 contacted 8 then 5 contacted 6, who was present near the location of the crime," he explained.



"Person number 5 did not come alone in the booby-trapped truck, but actually came with 7. Person number 9 called 8 again to make sure their location allowed them to spot Hariri and report his entry to the Cafe."



Cameron added that "the long series of calls stopped for a duration of 17 minutes between the red phones network."



"The minute Hariri came out of the Cafe, person 9 who was in the vicinity of the House of Representatives contacted person 8 who held a series of three phone calls.



The judge went on with his explanation, saying that the "last contact between persons 6 and 9 ended before the explosion and then the truck headed towards the west and was moving slowly. Communications continued and, 30 seconds after the call made between 9 and 8, a series of contacts took place - within 58 seconds - with person 7, who went to the scene of the crime, as well as with Ayyash and person number 9."



"As a conclusion, these contacts indicate that Hariri came out of the House of Representatives and was approaching the blast site. This was the last time Ayyash ever used his red phone," Cameron proceeded.



"As the white Van was approaching the crime scene, three contacts took place between 6, 7, 8 and 9 who were near the Parliaments. The last call between 9 and 6 occurred 85 seconds before the explosion. Then, the red phones network stopped. The white truck slowly progressed west, few meters away from the blast site, and at 12:55 the explosion occurred," Cameron stated.



The President of STL's First Chamber, Judge David Re interfered and asked "was it a shot or a scene taken from a surveillance camera?"



"It is a picture taken from the surveillance camera tape," Cameron replied, displaying the photo of the convoy arriving to the blast scene.



"I have described five evidence tools: the timing of the resignation of Hariri, the physical movements, the activities of the purple phones network to lure Abu Adas, buying the Mitsubishi, the steps that followed the assassination."



Cameron continued outlining the post-explosion stages, saying "we believe four contacts were made with Reuters and Al-Jazeera from public phones, through Telecarte cards bought on February 10."



"Evidence in the contact with Reuters shows that the person who made the call said the Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the bombing. The second contact which took place at 2:19 stated that The Nusra group adopted the bombing, and after the contact, Al-Jazeera aired a brief statement that "Al-Nusra admitted its responsibility for the execution of Hariri on behalf of the oppressed people."



Concerning the video and the message, Cameron explained "that the statement lacked some information which the conspirators sought to add, so they annexed the message which stated that the assassination was carried out by Abu Adas who seemed thinner than ever."



He pointed out that "the video was outrageous," describing the story as fictional and cowardly, created for the benefit of the conspirators."



"At 5:00 in the afternoon, a call was made with Al-Jazeera whereby the caller asked with a threatening tone why didn't it air the tape, which made the channel broadcast it later on," Cameron continued, adding that the tape explicitly states that the operation was carried out by Ahmad Abu Adas, noting that his voice in the video was low and his face was slim.



"The truck was Right-Hand Drive and the [Mitsubishi] van's transportation to the site required a lot of confidence and skill, yet Abu Adas did not know how to drive it," the Judge said, adding that "Abu Adas' sister said her brother was generous and slightly naive.



He stressed that "the assassination of Hariri was carefully planned and relied on delivering the explosives-loaded van on time and to the location specified for the passage of Hariri."


He also pointed out that Ayyash began operating the Yellow Network then the Blue, the Green and the Red.



In the fifth stage of controlling Hariri's movement, six conspirators appeared where the last team took the lead, "which shows discipline in the process and in monitoring the moves."


"Hariri's moves where monitored for over 50 days with a high level of commitment," he asserted.



Judge Cameron later spoke about the defendants and their resumes, noting that Sami Issa was actually Mustafa Badr al-Din, "and evidence of this is certain".


"He was the one guiding Ayyash and Merhi in this process," he explained, then listed the number of connections between the accused since 2004.



Prior to the adjournment of the session, Judge Re read a decision issued upon a request made earlier to add one witness to the list.



"This witness has a relative who died in the blast, which confirms his readiness to testify in person. He is considered a legal value that could help the Court," Re confirmed, announcing that the First Chamber agrees to add this person to the list of witnesses.



=======D.K.