This blog of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) aims at granting the public opinion access to all information related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon : daily press review in english, french and arabic ; UN documents, etc...

Ce blog du
Centre Libanais des droits humains (CLDH) a pour objectif de rendre accessible à l'opinion publique toute l'information relative au Tribunal Spécial pour le Liban : revue de presse quotidienne en anglais, francais et arabe ; documents onusiens ; rapports, etc...
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PRESS REVIEW

Assad Slams UN's Report on Hariri Assassination

Daily Star - Assad Slams UN's Report on Hariri Assassination, March 31, 2005

By Adnan El-Ghoul
Syrian President Bashar Assad has slammed the UN's fact-finding mission into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri and denied its central accusation that he threatened Hariri with physical harm. Assad said: "It is a report of political character when I was expecting rather a report of a technical-criminal nature." "Right until the end Syria had excellent relations with Mr. Hariri. We had worked with him since the 1990s," Assad told Austrian weekly News.
The UN report said Syria bore "primary responsibility" for the political tension that preceded the assassination and accused Assad of warning Hariri that he "would rather break Lebanon over the heads of Hariri and the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt than see his word in Lebanon broken." In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa demanded the deletion of Assad's alleged threat to Hariri from the report. Sharaa said that the claim of an "alleged improper dialogue" between Assad and Hariri was "very strange" and should be removed. Sharaa added: "This reference will never be accepted because it is untrue and lacks any material evidence. It should be removed to help preserve the credibility of the United Nations." The UN Security Council has postponed a discussion on whether it should establish a wide-reaching investigation into Hariri's murder until later today. It is understood that a joint draft declaration, sponsored by France and the United States, will insist that any investigation must have the power to call any witnesses it sees fit without any interference from Lebanese authorities. The UN report said an international investigation could not be satisfactorily carried while Lebanon's security chiefs, who are all close to Syria, remain in power. But since the report was published, military intelligence chief, General Raymond Azar, has taken a month's leave of absence. Lebanon agreed to a UN-led probe in the wake of the report, a move which Damascus said it supported. Lebanon has asked France to provide a copy of the proposed draft but the French diplomats said the draft was still subject to alterations and amendment. Judge Elias Eid, who replaced Michel Abu Arraj in leading the inquiry into Hariri's killing, asked for a detailed copy of the UN report to add its own findings. Sources say France intends to propose a neutral investigation committee in conformity with the aspiration of Lebanese official as explained in their letter to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. In this letter, Lebanon accepted the international investigation on condition that it be neutral and in coordination with the Lebanese authorities. In order to accommodate Lebanon's considerations, France may suggest that only Annan should select the members of the investigation committee from neutral countries. In all accounts, the diplomatic sources do not expect a criminal panel with an international court, but rather an inquiry team with powers to summon any suspects based on the team's findings.

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Background - خلفية

On 13 December 2005 the Government of the Lebanese Republic requested the UN to establish a tribunal of an international character to try all those who are alleged responsible for the attack of 14 february 2005 that killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others. The United Nations and the Lebanese Republic consequently negotiated an agreement on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Liens - Links - مواقع ذات صلة

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, David Schenker , March 30, 2010 . Beirut Spring: The Hariri Tribunal Goes Hunting for Hizballah


Frederic Megret, McGill University, 2008. A special tribunal for Lebanon: the UN Security Council and the emancipation of International Criminal Justice


International Center for Transitional Justice Handbook on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, April 10, 2008


United Nations
Conférence de presse de Nicolas Michel, 19 Sept 2007
Conférence de presse de Nicolas Michel, 27 Mars 2008


Département d'Etat américain
* 2009 Human Rights report
* 2008 Human Rights report
* 2007 Human Rights report
* 2006 Human Rights report
* 2005 Human Rights report



ICG - International Crisis Group
The Hariri Tribunal: Separate the Political and the Judicial, 19 July, 2007. [Fr]


HCSS - Hague Centre for strategic studies
Hariri, Homicide and the Hague


Human Rights Watch
* Hariri Tribunal can restore faith in law, 11 may 2006
* Letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, april 27, 2006


Amnesty International
* STL insufficient without wider action to combat impunity
* Liban : le Tribunal de tous les dangers, mai 2007
* Jeu de mecano


Courrier de l'ACAT - Wadih Al Asmar
Le Tribunal spécial pour le Liban : entre espoir et inquiétude


Georges Corm
La justice penale internationale pour le Liban : bienfait ou malediction?


Nadim Shedadi and Elizabeth Wilmshurt, Chatham House
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon : the UN on Trial?, July 2007


Issam Michael Saliba, Law Library of Congress
International Tribunals, National Crimes and the Hariri Assassination : a novel development in International Criminal Law, June 2007


Mona Yacoubian, Council on Foreign Relations
Linkages between Special UN Tribunal, Lebanon, and Syria, June 1, 2007