Geagea Warns of Manipulation in STL Funding

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea warned on Monday of any manipulation concerning the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

All the successive cabinets “insured the funding of the STL since 2008 with the participation of Hizbullah ministers,” Geagea told An Nahar newspapers.

The Netherlands-based tribunal, the only international court with jurisdiction to try acts of terror, was created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution, at Lebanon's request, to try those responsible for Hariri's murder on February 14, 2005.

Lebanon has to pay its $33 million dues which are nearly half of the STL’s annual $65 million.

The STL had issued arrest warrants against four Hizbullah members; however, the party has announced that it will not cooperate with the tribunal, describing it as an American-Israeli product aimed at destroying it.

Geagea warned that the reluctance to pay Lebanon’s dues to the tribunal threatens to “isolate” Lebanon, which will cause the international community to “impose sanctions” on the country.

He noted this will “hit the Lebanese national unity.”

Asked about the abduction of Syrian opposition members in Lebanon, Geagea stressed that “the March 14 forces will follow-up the case with all the available democratic means.”

He stressed that the international community demanded Lebanon to protect the Syrian opposition members, noting that the military judiciary must continue its investigations in this case.

The LF leader praised Internal Security Forces commander Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi for “not fearing” anyone, and carrying out his probe.

He lashed out on the statements made by Syrian ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali, saying: “No ambassador has the right to give any statements concerning any Lebanese official.”

Last week, Rifi informed MPs during a meeting of the Parliamentary human rights committee about two abduction cases carried out by personnel from the Syrian Embassy in Beirut.

Three Syrian brothers from the Jassem family disappeared in February, after two of them went to pick up their brother, Jassem Merhi Jassem, from a police station east of Beirut.

He also said information pointed to the embassy’s involvement in the May disappearance of Shebli al-Aisamy, an 86-year-old Syrian dissident and former high-ranking Baath Party official who was abducted in Aley.

Concerning Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour’s position on the Syrian crisis during the Arab Foreign Ministers meeting in Cairo, Geagea wondered if “he (Mansour) took the approval from the President and the PM before adopting his stance.”

“He (Mansour) can’t act on his own will and according to his political affiliations,” Geagea stressed.

“The worst case scenario was that Lebanon disavows itself (from the crisis),” he said.