Qortbawi to Have a Say at Cabinet, Hopes for Political Solution to STL Funding

Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi hoped that the government would find a “political” and “legal” solution to the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, Qortbawi said: “I have an opinion on this matter. I will express it without hesitation when it is discussed by the cabinet.”

“I will have a say only in the government,” he told the newspaper.

The cabinet should “find a political and legal solution to the issue of the funding,” the minister said.

He denied that the STL funding issue has been placed on the agenda of the cabinet session on Friday. Media reports have said that the government will discuss the controversial item next Wednesday.

Qortbawi confirmed he will meet on Thursday with STL President Judge Sir David Baragwanath, who is on a visit to Beirut.

Qortbawi, who represents Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in the cabinet, has so far refused to give his opinion on a letter sent to the government by Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi demanding a loan from the treasury to pay Lebanon’s share of the STL funding.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Aoun have made it clear that they reject the funding of the court, which has indicted four members from Hizbullah in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.

Qortbawi is expected to join the Arab justice ministers meeting in Cairo which coincides with the cabinet session on November 30.

He told al-Joumhouria newspaper on Tuesday that his absence wasn’t pre-calculated “it was merely a coincidence.”