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

March 29, 2010 - Daily Star - Hizbullah chief vows to address allegations of STL interrogation

Wahhab warns against politicization of Special Tribunal
By Patrick Galey

BEIRUT: Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed to respond to allegations that Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) prosecutors had begun questioning Hizbullah members about involvement in the killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri.


“I will most probably speak in the few coming days about the reports and circulations concerning the international investigation and questioning of Hizbullah members as well as the path of the investigations and all things related to this issue,” Nasrallah was quoted as saying by the Al-Manar news website.


“I will say what I think is appropriate to say at this stage so that people understand the issue,” Nasrallah added.


It is expected that Nasrallah will give a statement to Al-Manar television on Wednesday.


Also over the weekend,Tawheed Movement leader Wi’am Wahhab attacked on Sunday the United Nations’ probe into Hariri’s assassination, warning that the tribunal was at risk of becoming politicized.


Following a meeting with Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon Juan Carlos Gafo at his residence in Jahlieh, Wahhab expressed his skepticism over the motives of the STL.


“We don’t trust the STL or its work and we have expressed that over the years,” he said.


“Ever since the four former security chiefs were released, there has been a necessity for the STL not to be politicized because it will lead to the destruction of Lebanon,” he added in reference to the Lebanese intelligence officers who were held for four years before their release under prosecutor’s orders when the STL began operations in March 2009.


Wahhab suggested last week that the tribunal was seeking to speak with 20 party members and even suggested investigations were exploring the possibility that former Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh – himself killed in Damascus in 2008 – was involved in the assassination.



According to UN Security Council Resolution 1757, the STL can compel Beirut to hand over Lebanese citizens for questioning by prosecutors, although media reports have suggested that Hizbullah’s cooperation with investigators would be unlikely.


The spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare was forced to release a statement as rumors swirled, condemning media hearsay as “unhelpful.”


“Anything reported by persons other than the Prosecutor or his Official Spokesperson are mere speculation and should be treated as such,” Bellemare’s press office statement said.


Wahhab said on Sunday he and Gafo had discussed several elements of the STL’s inquiry, “including the latest leaks.”


“We stress to the ambassador that Spain and other European states play a role in opposing the politicization of the STL and its decision,” he said. “This will turn Lebanon, UNIFIL and maybe other UN institutions into a mailbox that the US can use to put pressure on Hizbullah and Iran after it has failed in pressuring Syria in the last couple of years.


“Therefore, this matter ought to be solved before it is too late and it is the duty of the international community to exert pressure so that the STL is not turned into a US tool.”


The STL has been plagued by accusations of politicization since its inception last year, with many commentators suggesting its progress has been stymied by a series of high-profile resignations by lawyers involved in the case.


It is tasked with finding the killers of Hariri, who was assassinated by a massive car bomb that struck his motorcade in Downtown Beirut on February 14, 2005.


Last week, STL investigators began filming a 3-D scene from the area in which Hariri was slain. Allegations of responsibility have been laid at Syria’s door but Damascus has repeatedly denied involvement.

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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