Nasrallah Calls on Miqati to Put 'False Witnesses' on Cabinet Agenda
Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday his party would not “create a problem in the country” over Premier Najib Miqati’s decision to fund the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, in order to preserve the national interest.
"Even though we remain opposed to the tribunal, we are not going to cause trouble as we place the country's national interest above all else," Nasrallah said in a televised address.
His comments came a day after Miqati, following months of political wrangling, announced that he had transferred Lebanon's 49 percent annual share of funding to the STL, which is probing the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri.
Nasrallah said he had decided not to stand in Miqati's way to ensure stability and avoid a government collapse.
He underlined, however, that this did not mean his party endorsed Miqati's decision or supported the tribunal.
"We have not changed our mind: in our opinion, this court is unconstitutional, politicized and sponsored by Israel and the U.S., and it will remain so until the opposite is proven,” Nasrallah declared.
“We still reject any form of financing it or cooperating with it. Had a (cabinet) session been held to discuss the issue of financing, we would’ve voted against it. And had the issue been put to the vote of parliament, we would’ve also voted against.
“We reject to pay the money of the Lebanese people to finance such a tribunal,” Hizbullah’s leader stressed.
He revealed that he has been “told” that the money to finance the STL would come from “donations by certain sides and nations that will be deposited into the account of the High Relief Commission.”
“What’s bizarre is that certain countries were willing to sponsor an agreement to end (Lebanon’s) cooperation with the tribunal, but now financing it has become an obligation. So the issue is not about justice. We do not approve this assessment and the premier took the decision outside constitutional institutions,” Nasrallah noted.
He said Miqati has been stressing his “keenness on justice” and saying that “as a premier his patriotism and Sunni belonging do not allow him to refrain from financing” the court.
“Given this same position, I tell PM Miqati that his commitment to justice and patriotism and Sunni belonging oblige him to do justice to other aggrieved people, such as the Four Generals, who comprise two belonging to the dear Sunni sect, as well as other employees,” Nasrallah added.
He was referring to Jamil Sayyed, Mustafa Hamdan, Ali al-Hajj and Raymond Azar -- four generals who had been held by Lebanese authorities for nearly four years without charge over Hariri’s assassination.
They were released in April 2009 following a ruling from the STL. In the ruling, the tribunal's first since opening its doors, Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen granted a request by Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare who said the available evidence was "not sufficiently credible" to hold the generals.
“You must do justice to them by putting the issue of false witnesses on the cabinet’s agenda and referring it to the Judicial Council,” Nasrallah said, addressing Miqati.
“Your justice and Sunni belonging oblige you to do that as well. You are before a new test, we have remained silent over this issue (false witnesses), but the case must be followed up and do not waste time,” he called on the premier.
Hizbullah and its allies were fiercely opposed to the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and in January had forced the collapse of the government of Saad Hariri, the slain leader's son, over the issue.
Miqati last week had threatened to resign should his Hizbullah-led government refuse to fund the Netherlands-based STL, which has indicted four Hizbullah operatives for Hariri's murder.
The $32 million sent to the STL were reportedly drawn from the High Relief Commission, part of the prime minister's office's budget, and as such did not need cabinet approval.
Since its creation in 2007 by a U.N. Security Council resolution, the STL has been a constant source of political tension in Lebanon.
Hizbullah has denounced the court as part of a U.S.-Israeli plot and has vowed that party members accused will never be found or handed over.
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