SHOTLIST:

Beirut - 30 June 2011

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1. Wide exterior of Justice Palace

2. Mid of Justice Palace sign

3. Mid of media outside the Justice Palace

4. Set up of Future Movement bloc Member of Parliament, Atef Majdalani

5. Photograph of Majdalani with Saad Hariri, son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atef Majdalani, Future Movement bloc MP:

"We consider the release of the indictment today is part of our martyr's rights, and this indictment is the first step to achieve the truth then justice in order to stabilise Lebanon."

FILE: Beirut - 14 February 2005

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7. Various of explosion site where Rafik Hariri was killed

FILE: Beirut - 2004

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8. Various of Rafik Hariri giving a speech

STORYLINE:

A U.N.-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri delivered an indictment and four arrest warrants Thursday, the latest turn in a case that has transformed this Arab nation and brought down the government earlier this year.

The names of the accused were not released, but the court has been expected to accuse members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Many fear that could lead to street protests and plunge the violence-wracked

country back into a new crisis.

The long-awaited indictment was confirmed by the office of Hariri's son, Saad.

According to tribunal rules, Lebanese authorities now have 30 days to serve the indictments on suspects or execute arrest warrants. If they fail, the court can then order the indictment published and advertised in local media.

Saad Hariri also served as Lebanon's prime minister. But he was forced from office in January, when Hezbollah and its allies toppled his government in a conflict over the tribunal.

The group, which is also backed by Syria, fiercely denies any role in the killing and says the tribunal is a conspiracy by Israel and the United

States.

The dispute over the investigation encapsulates Lebanon's most explosive conflicts: the role of Hezbollah, the country's most powerful political and military force; the country's dark history of sectarian divisions and violence; and Lebanon's fraught relationship with neighbouring Syria.

Rafik Hariri was killed along with 22 other people in a massive truck bombing along Beirut's waterfront on February 14, 2005.

The indictment raises concerns of a possible resurgence of violence that has blighted this tiny Arab country of four million people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

STORYLINE

The prosecutor of the United Nations tribunal set up to bring to justice the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri filed the first indictment in the case on Monday, the court announced.

Details of suspects named in the indictment and the charges against them were not released.

Hariri was killed along with 22 other people by a huge truck bomb blast on February the 14th, 2005, on Beirut's Mediterranean sea front.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Shiite militant group Hezbollah, said last year he expects members of his group to be indicted, a move that many fear could re-ignite sectarian violence that has erupted repeatedly in the tiny nation.

The Iranian and Syrian-sponsored group fiercely denies any role in the killing.

Hariri was a Sunni, and many Lebanese worry that if the tribunal draws links between the assassination and Hezbollah it could provoke bloodshed between Lebanon's Shiite and Sunni communities.

Tribunal registrar Herman van Hebel said in a statement that prosecutor Daniel Bellemare sent the indictments to Judge Daniel Fransen, who must decide whether to confirm or dismiss them or ask for more evidence.

A billionaire businessman, Hariri was credited with rebuilding Lebanon after its 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Fransen is expected to take six to 10 weeks studying the evidence before reaching a decision.

The names of suspects and evidence against them will only be released if he decides the evidence is strong enough to merit putting them on trial.

News of the indictment came as Lebanon's government has been plunged into turmoil by the resignation last week of Hezbollah and its allies from a broad coalition administration led by Hariri's son, Saad, who remains as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.

Hezbollah quit the government after Saad Hariri refused to renounce the UN-backed tribunal investigating his father's killing.

SHOTLIST:

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1. Mid of website Special Tribunal for Lebanon showing indictment

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++NIGHT SHOTS

Beirut, Lebanon - 17th January 2011

2. Wide of traffic near the Prime minister's office

3. Mid of traffic

4. VOXPOP (Arabic), Mohammad Ghalayini, voxpop:

"I do support the truth but I do not know exactly what is in the indictment. I do not know if it is politically biased or not. Some are saying it is but I am with the truth."

5. Mid of traffic

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Name not given, voxpop:

"I am with the arrest of the assassins of the Late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, but I need the power to be back with the Lebanese judiciary system because there is no more justice in Lebanon. It is all politically biased."

+16:9+

Beirut, Lebanon - 15th January 2011

7. Various of Hariri's grave

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File

Beirut, Lebanon - 14th February 2005

8. Wide of bomb blast scene

9. Various firefighters trying to put flames out

10. Mid bystanders carry injured person away on stretcher

11. Wide of scene

12. Various of crater caused by blast

13. Mid firefighters at scene

14. Firefighters carry person away on stretcher

15. Various of smoke plumes caused by explosion