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

Ya Libnan - March 8 wants UN to abolish STL

According to local reports , a March 8 delegation visited UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams’ office on Saturday and delivered a memorandum asking UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to abolish the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

The memorandum called on the UN to replace the STL with a joint Arab-Lebanese commission to investigate the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, he added.

According to local reports , March 14 General Coordinator Fares Soueid said in an interview published in Kuwaiti newspaper As-Seyassah on Sunday that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah feels threatened by the tribunal.Soueid revealed that the March 8 parties also submitted the same memorandum to the Chinese and Russian embassies in Lebanon.

No one really knows what the contents of the STL indictments will be like , but the leader of the Iranian backed Hezbollah admitted in his speech on Thursday July 22 that some of his party members would be named in the tribunal’s formal charges but stressed that he will reject the indictments. He accused the STL of being an Israeli project aiming to cause internal strife.

In a speech on August 9, 2010, Nasrallah tried to present evidence to prove that Israel was behind the assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri . He also said he had more information ( which he will present at a later date ) that will prove Israel killed Hariri.

After securing a copy of Nasrallah’s presentation STL prosecutor tried to obtain copies of the additional evidence that Nasrallah still had , but the Hezbollah leader refused to cooperate.

Wahab attacks Hariri

During an interview with OTV, Wiam Wahab on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Saad Hariri and described as an “Israeli agent” anyone that finances the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Wahab , a staunch ally of Syria and Hezbollah said: “We are on the brink (of a civil war) and we could fall into the abyss any moment because we have responsible officials who are not responsible.” .

He said Hariri was not acting as a prime minister for Lebanon

Hariri “is acting as if he were leader of an alley,” Wahab said.

He said he was surprised that the Opposition continues to accept Hariri as Prime Minister.

“We’ve had enough of six childish years,” Wahab said, adding that anyone supporting or financing the STL is an Israeli agent.

Addressing Hariri, Wahab said: Back off. You made us ungrateful for the international tribunal. Go away. We want to live.”

He called on Opposition Cabinet ministers to resign over the STL.

Ali Hussein a political analyst told Ya Libnan last week: “Both Hezbollah and Syria use Wahab on regular basis to do their dirty work….whatever he has been saying ever since 2004 has always been reflecting the thinking of the Syrian and Hezbollah leadership.”

Wahab’s comment come after the verbal clash between Hezbollah chief and the Lebanese Prime minister , following the deadly Borj Abi Haider clash between Hezbollah and Al Ahbash gunmen.

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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