April 6, 2010 - Daily Star - Islamic Sharia Council calls for STL cooperation

By Nafez Kawas
Daily Star correspondent

BEIRUT: The Islamic Sharia Council warned on Saturday of all the media commotion surrounding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), saying the international judiciary must be respected in order for the truth to be revealed.
The council held a meeting presided over by Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani in which it tackled local and regional affairs. It expressed its concern about coverage of the STL and the investigations into the assassination of Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
It also argued that stability and security in Lebanon could not be achieved by hiding the truth or through intimidation but rather by “uncovering criminals and punishing them.”
Hariri was killed in February 2005 when a bomb went off while his car was passing by the Saint George Hotel in Beirut.
The STL was formed to investigate the murder as well as the series of assassinations that followed.
On the local scene, the council also stressed the need to hold the municipal elections on time in accordance with the law and the Constitution.
The council then commented on the recent unrest in Occupied Jerusalem and said it was part of Israel’s Judaization plans. It added in a statement later published, “Arab and Muslim nations, leaders and people, should take firm stances instead of formal stances.”
It also regretted that the decisions of the Arab League summit held in Libya last month did not match Israel’s daily actions to turn Occupied Jerusalem into a Jewish city, and it called on reviving the Jerusalem Committee.
Mufti Qabbani tackled these issues as well during a dinner on Monday organized by council member Riyad al-Halabi to honor Qabbani himself, along with other council members.
Qabbani hoped more Islamic institutions would cooperate and unite in order to preserve social, cultural and educational security and in order to oppose “Zionist threats and aggressive Zionist plans.”
He then confirmed that the council was still determined to implement the reforms of Decree Law number 18 which regulates religious administrative affairs.
On the occasion of Easter, Qabbani expressed his best wishes to President Michel Sleiman, National Defense Minster Elias Murr, Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud, Lebanese Army Commander Jean Kahwaji, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Antioch Greek Melkite Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, Armenian Orthodox Catholicos Aram I Keshishyan, and Archbishops Boulos Matar, Elias Audi and Youssef Kallas.