STL Bulletin- July 2015

8/20/2019 STL Bulletin- July 2015

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Judicial developments

Te Prosecutor v. Ayyash et al. (SL-11-01)1

1No hearings are scheduled during the summer judicialrecess (27 July-14 August). Before going into recess,counsel for the Office of the Prosecutor (OP) indi-cated that Edward Philips will appear as an expert

witness in the area of cell site analysis to describe thetechnical working of mobile companies and networks.Following Mr Philips, the OP intends to call threeviva voce (in-person) witnesses to present evidence onthe origins and nature of the network phones (purchaseof the SIM cards; purchase of the handsets; and the

location and time of the purchases). At the conclu-sion, evidence will be presented regarding the originof the call data records (CDRs) from the companiesin Lebanon; evidence of how the OP received andmanaged that data; and of how that data was organ-ised through the creation of the call sequence tables(CSs).

On 7 July, PRH115, a witness who is subject to protec-tive measures, appeared before the rial Chamber via

1 Tis section provides an overview of courtroom hearings in the Ayyash

et al . case only. All the public filings in this case are available on our website: http://www.stl-tsl.org/en/the-cases/stl-11-01/filings

July 2015Te SL Bulletin provides a monthly overview of the latest developments, news and visits to the Special ribunal

for Lebanon. It is not a judicial document with legal authority. It is one of a number of public information

documents produced by the ribunal. You can view them all at http://www.stl-tsl.org/en/news-and-press.

STLBulletin

A CS presents a chronological and complete sequenceof calls relating to a particular phone number (targetnumber) over a specified period of time. Te CSs detailcharacteristics of a call, including the other telephonenumbers with which the target number was in contact;the date and time of the call; the type of call (eithervoice or SMS); its duration; information on the handsetused by the target number; and cell information on thecell sector used by the target number at the start of thecall. CSs occasionally may also include informationon the cell sector used at the end of the call, which isreferred to as “end cell data”. SMS CSs present the SMScontent sent and received by a phone over a relevant date

range in a consistent accessible format. Te SMS CSsprovide the date and time of the SMS; the other tele-phone number involved; the direction of the SMS; andits content.

Te OP indicated that there are two types of sourcematerials. One is files that are for a particular phonenumber of interest; the other type is the bulk data, whichis for multiple numbers. In the case of the latter, it isimported by the database administrator into a Struc-tured Query Language (SQL) database. In the case ofindividual text files, that is not necessary.

www.stl-tsl.org

Dokter van der Stamstraat 1, 2265 BC Leidschendam, Netherlands ✦PO Box 115, 2260 AC Leidschendam, Netherlands.

For more informaon please contact the Public Informaon and Communicaons Secon: [email protected] Tel : +31 (0) 70 800 3560 / 3828 and +961 4 538 100 (Beirut)

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videolink. Te witness’s testimony revolved around thecontent of a series of text messages sent and receivedby her/his phone on 14 February 2005. Some of thosemessages were sent or received when the witness wason her/his way to the Al-Jazeera V office in Beirut onthat day, whereas others were sent or received duringthe period when s/he collected the videotape from

a tree in a parking lot at the Riad Al Solh Square inBeirut. Te videotape relates to an alleged false claimof responsibility of the 14 February 2005 attack.Te Prosecution questioned PRH115 regarding her/his activities immediately following the attack, andhow s/he arrived to her/his workplace and how s/hecollected the videotape, which was left in an envelopein a white box on a tree.

On 7 and 8 July, Defence counsel for Mr Oneissi, MrSabra and Mr Badreddine cross-examined PRH115.Counsel for Mr Oneissi cross-examined the witnessabout her/his statement; the short message service callsequence tables (SMS CSs) that the OP had created

with respect to the messages that PRH115 had sentor received; what s/he did and with whom s/he hadcontact after the explosion on 14 February 2005; as

well as the investigations by the Lebanese authori-ties and the United Nations Fact-Finding Commis-

sion. Counsel for Mr Oneissi also cross-examinedPRH115 on the calls that Al-Jazeera received on 14February 2005 for the purpose of picking-up the vide-otape allegedly claiming responsibility for the attack.Defence counsel for Mr Sabra and Mr Badreddinecross-examined witness PRH115. Te cross-examina-tion focused on the statement the witness gave to theISF in April 2005 and the record of her/his interview

with the Fact-Finding Mission of the United Nationsin March 2005. Te questions asked related to theclaim of responsibility videotape provided to Al-Jazeera

V, and the events that took place on the evening of14 February 2005, as well as about an employee who worked at Al-Jazeera in 2005. Te witness was alsoquestioned about the period in which s/he left her/hishome to go to the office on 14 February 2005, andabout the time when s/he left the Al-Jazeera office togo and get the videotape.

Te witness was re-examined afterwards by the Prose-cution on the timing the witness collected the video-tape from the tree and the timing of the text messagess/he exchanged about finding it.

On 8 and 9 July, Mr Ghassan Ben-Jeddo testifiedbefore the rial Chamber via videolink. Mr Ben-Jeddo

was the bureau chief of Al-Jazeera in Beirut during2004 and 2005. His testimony focused on the workof Al-Jazeera and his own role at the time. Te witness

was also asked about the events that took place on14 February 2005, the live coverage by Al-Jazeera

on that day, and the claim of responsibility calls thatthe Al-Jazeera office received. Mr Ben-Jeddo was alsoasked about how the Lebanese security authorities andformer head of General Security, Mr Jamil El-Sayed,2

contacted him to collect the videotape.

On 9 and 10 July, Defence counsel for Mr Sabra,Mr Oneissi and Mr Badreddine cross-examined MrBen-Jeddo. Counsel asked the witness about the chro-nology of events on 14 February 2005 and about theclaim of responsibility calls that the Al-Jazeera officereceived. He was also questioned about the interviewhe had with the military Investigative Judge RachidMezher on 17 February 2005, and about two inter-views with Lebanese Investigative Judge Michel Abou-

Arraj on 9 March 2005 and with Lebanese Investiga-tive Judge Elias Eid on 9 April 2005. Te witness wasadditionally cross-examined on the broadcast of thevideotape received by Al-Jazeera containing the state-ment of El-Nusra-wal-Jihad in Greater Syria , the group

which claimed responsibility for the assassination ofPM Hariri. Te witness was also questioned aboutsome members of the Islamic Movement in Lebanon,

Jamaa Islamiya , as well as about a number of individ-uals with whom Mr Ben-Jeddo exchanged calls andmessages.

On 13 July, protected witness PRH430 gave her/histestimony before the rial Chamber. Te witness in2005 was an employee for the company BBSC that

worked with Al-Jazeera V in Beirut. Te witness wasasked about the location of the company, the witness’sactivities on 14 February 2005, and her/his role

when s/he arrived at the explosion site, as well as thefootage and live coverage aired by Al-Jazeera that day.

Additionally, the witness testified about the claim ofresponsibility call s/he received at the Al-Jazeera office,and about two individuals s/he was in contact with byphone.

Defence counsel for Mr Oneissi and Mr Sabra cross-ex-amined witness PRH430. Te witness was questionedabout the chronology of events on the day of the explo-sion, including her/his locations, duration of time it

2 Mr Jamil El Sayed was one of the four Generals detained by the

Lebanese authorities from 30 August 2005 to 29 April 2009 in

connection with the Hariri case. Te Pre-rial Judge ordered hisimmediate release on 29 April 2009.

Document provided by the Public Informaon and Communicaons Secon of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

2

All public transcripts in the Ayyash et al . case are availableon our website in Arabic, English and French.

http://www.stl-tsl.org/en/the-cases/stl-11-01/transcriptshttp://www.stl-tsl.org/en/the-cases/stl-11-01/transcripts


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took her/him to go from one location to another, inaddition to the phone calls s/he made and messagess/he exchanged. S/he was also asked about the claimof responsibility call that s/he received at the Al-Jazeera office.

On 14 July, protected witness PRH012 testified before

the rial Chamber via videolink. Te witness testifiedabout her/his employment at Reuters News Agencyin Beirut in 2005, the location of the Reuters office

and what s/he did throughout the day on 14 February2005. Additionally, the witness testified about the

claim of responsibility call s/he received at the Reutersoffice. Te witness was then examined by the LegalRepresentative of Victims about the period s/he wasat the scene of the explosion on the day of the attack.

Defence counsel for Mr Sabra cross-examined the witness about the phone calls received by the Reutersoffice on the day of the bombing, including the claimof responsibility call s/he received, the witness state-ment s/he gave to the United Nations InternationalIndependent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) in

July 2007, and the witness statement s/he gave to the

UNIIIC in August 2005. S/he was also asked about the witness statement of March 2005 to the ISF, and the witness statement taken by Investigative Judge Michel Abou-Arraj in March 2005.

On 14 and 15 July, Mr Lorenzo Lanzi gave his testi-mony before the rial Chamber. Mr Lanzi is a crim-inalist with the Geneva police in Switzerland and wasa former associate forensic expert in the OP at theSpecial ribunal for Lebanon (SL) and UNIIIC. TeProsecution asked Mr Lanzi about the witness state-ment he gave to the OP on 12 June 2015, whether

it reflects his evidence, and about the type of work heperformed while working in the OP.

Defence counsel for Mr Oneissi cross-examined the witness, asking about his previous work at the SL andthe UNIIIC, including the photo-boards he producedfor the Accused Mr Oneissi and Mr Sabra.

On 15 and16 July, Mr Matthew Barrington testifiedbefore the rial Chamber. Mr Barrington previously

worked for the UNIIIC and is currently an analyst forthe SL OP. He was asked about the witness state-ment he gave on 22 May 2015, and the one he gave on4 June 2015, which included a correction to an inad-vertent error made in the first statement. Te witnesstestified about the film footage from Al-Jazeera of 14February 2005, and the charts he prepared during his

work at the SL in relation to it.

Defence counsel for Mr Sabra cross-examined MrBarrington about the nature of his work at the SL andhis previous work at the UNIIIC, as well as circum-stances surrounding the writing of his witness state-

ments. He was also asked about his witness statementsof 22 May 2015 and 5 June 2013. He was cross-exam-ined on the timers that appeared on the New V videofootage covering the events of 14 February 2005 that

were shown live on Al-Jazeera .

In the week commencing 20 July, the Prosecutionpresented the evidence of five witnesses who wereresponsible for the creation of call sequence tables(CSs).

Te first of the five witnesses was Kei Kamei who testi-fied before the rial Chamber on 20 July 2015. Ms

Kamei has been an analyst with the OP since 2009


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and was formerly with the UNIIIC (2006-2009). Hertestimony was focused on the production of CSs andSMS CSs. In Ms Kamei’s witness statements, shedescribed having produced 46 CSs and 3 SMS CSs.

Ms Kamei’s evidence focused on her written statementsto the OP, in which she described source materials

that she used to produce the CSs; the general meth-odology she employed; and any specific observationshe may have in respect of the CSs she produced forthe SL’s OP. Te witness specified that the CSs arebased on CDRs originating from Lebanese telephoneservice providers. Te telephone numbers of interestfeatured in the CSs form part of the telephonenetworks which the Prosecution alleges were used inthe conspiracy to assassinate former Prime MinisterHariri. During her testimony, Ms Kamei providedexamples of phone activities believed to be responsiblein the surveillance of the former PM.

On 21 July, Ms Kamei resumed giving evidence relatedto quality assurance schemes in the production ofCSs. According to the witness, peer analysts from theOP team would compare the data in a CS with thecorresponding raw data. She testified that the marginof errors for CSs is very small in proportion to theentire CSs. Te same day, the witness also discussedthe production of roaming CSs; how land-line andtelecard data appear in CSs; and CSs for forwardednumbers.

Counsel for Mr Badreddine cross-examined the witnessabout the CSs she produced; the witness statementthat she gave to the OP and other witness statementsabout CSs; the review (or quality assurance scheme)process; the accuracy and reliability of the CSs andthe CDRs. Counsel for Mr Merhi cross-examined MsKamei on the possibility of discrepancies in the sourcematerial and the result that such conflicting materialcould have on the table she produced.

On 21 July, Andrew Donaldson, an analyst in the OP,gave evidence about the 45 CSs that he produced

in relation to particular phone numbers relevant tothe OP’s case; the error that he found in one of thetables; the level of accuracy of the CSs; the reviewand data validation standards. Counsel for Mr Badred-dine asked the witness about the review process thatis adopted. Counsel for Mr Merhi cross-examined MrDonaldson about possible mistakes in the CSs.

Helena Habraken, also an analyst in the OP, testi-fied on 22 July on what a CS is, and detailed whatis included in it. She also described the sources andthe CDRs used in producing the 27 individual CSs

for which she was responsible. In addition, she spoke

about the methodology that she used; the format andaccuracy of the tables; any anomalies or errors that sheobserved and corrected when creating CSs; and thereview and validation processes.

Counsel for Mr Badreddine cross-examined the witness about the accuracy of the reports produced

and the formatting errors that she rectified during her work, in addition to the validation process of certainCSs. Counsel for Mr Ayyash questioned the witnessabout the review and validation processes. Counsel forMr Merhi’s cross-examination revolved around MsHabraken’s background prior to working as an analystfor the SL’s OP; the CSs that she created; thereporting line of the OP analysts; and the proceduralrequirements to rectify CSs. Counsel for the Prose-cution re-examined the witness about the peer reviewprocess for detecting formatting errors. Te Judgesasked the witness about the source materials used inthe creation of CSs.

Lachlan Christie appeared before the rial Chamberon 22 July. Mr Christie has been an analyst with theOP since April 2009. In his witness statement, MrChristie described having produced three CSs. MrChristie further described what a CS is; the detailsincluded in a CS, as well as the CDRs on which herelied. Presiding Judge David Re asked the witnessabout the margin of error in the CSs and the peerreview process.

Counsel for Mr Merhi questioned Mr Christie on hisprofessional background. Counsel for Mr Badreddineasked the witness about the accuracy of CSs.

Christian Carnus, an analyst in the OP since 2009,testified on 22 July. In his witness statement, MrCarnus described having produced 12 SMS contentCSs. He said those were produced to display SMScontent provided by one of the Lebanese commu-nications service providers about the SMSs contentstarting in February 2004. Te SMS content CSspresent the content in a consistent format, showing the

date and time of the SMS; the other telephone numberinvolved; the direction of the message and its content.Mr Carnus also described the methodology on whichhe relied for the creation of those tables. Additionally,the witness was asked about his level of confidence

with respect to the CSs he produced and the peerreview process.

On 22 July, the Prosecution read a summary of NadineStanford’s witness statement, in which she describedhaving produced 29 CSs. She also described thesources that she used to produce the CSs, specifically

bulk data received from Lebanese telecommunications


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companies, as well as individual text files received fromone of these telecommunications companies. Ms Stan-ford detailed all specific CDRs she used in producingeach individual CS.

In the hearing on 22 July , the Prosecution presented written evidence relating to former PM Hariri’s

movements and political events he attended. Morespecifically, the Prosecution presented a batch ofUnited Nations Information Centre press reviews;a batch of exit and entry records; and a third batchof 11 remaining items such as a telephone directory,

photographs, copies of newspaper clippings, decrees,parliamentary meeting notes, and other UN-relateddocuments.

In the hearing on 23 July, the Prosecution resumedpresenting evidence before the rial Chamber. In addi-tion to the above-mentioned material, the Prosecution

presented geographic documents and business recordsrelated to the Prosecution case.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the Prosecutiondiscussed the appearance of witnesses in the weekcommencing 18 August, following the Court recess.

News and Press

For the second year in a row, on 17 July, the SLparticipated in the International Criminal Justice Daycampaign to renew its commitment to justice. Tecampaign allowed various SL principals and staff members to express what Justice means to them.

In July, the SL accommodated a Tai Delega-tion, members of the office of the Tai judiciary inBangkok. Te delegation visited the ribunal and

had briefings with several Organs about the work ofthe SL. Furthermore, a group of students from theGrotius Centre for International Legal Studies (in theNetherlands) visited the SL.

You can book a visit for a group of at least 10 people by filling in the online booking form no later than one month prior to the proposed date of visit.

www.stl-tsl.org

Dokter van der Stamstraat 1, 2265 BC Leidschendam, Netherlands ✦PO Box 115, 2260 AC Leidschendam, Netherlands.

For more informaon please contact the Public Informaon and Communicaons Secon: [email protected] Tel : +31 (0) 70 800 3560 / 3828 and +961 4 538 100 (Beirut)

www.twier.com/stlebanon www.facebook.com/stlebanon www.youtube.com/stlebanon www.ickr.com/stlebanon
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STL Bulletin- July 2015

Documents

Transcript of STL Bulletin- July 2015