Miqati’s Sources Deny Pressure on Diplomats to Delay Indictment

Sources close to Premier Najib Miqati denied that he was exerting efforts through contacts with top diplomats to delay the release of the indictment by the international tribunal.

“This is untrue,” the sources told An Nahar daily published Wednesday about information that Miqati was seeking to postpone the announcement of the indictment’s details.

“Miqati hasn’t made contacts and everyone is by now aware that the issue of the international tribunal and its work is not linked to Lebanon after it (the court) turned into an independent judicial institution,” they said.

His sources also told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that Miqati only met with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams and discussions focused on Security Council Resolution 1701.

The reports about the premier’s efforts to delay the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case said that the tribunal hadn’t taken into account that the formation of the cabinet would take five months and its policy statement drafting would also take several weeks.

Miqati’s sources also denied that he had received a copy of the indictment, saying the Lebanese judiciary would be first handed the details of the tribunal’s decision.