Premier Najib Miqati said Monday that the truth in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and stability go hand in hand, stressing that it was his responsibility to preserve Lebanon’s stability.
In remarks to As Safir newspaper, Miqati said: “There is a correlation between the truth and stability.”
Full StoryAl-Mustaqbal MP Nohad al-Mashnouq called on Hizbullah ministers to quit their posts in the cabinet, saying there can’t be Hizbullah members in the government at a time when the party’s militants are wanted for involvement in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder.
The Hizbullah ministers should quit “until the truth” is found in Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, he said.
Full StoryMufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said Sunday that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon should not be part of the political bickering because it is a legitimate institution established by a U.N. Security Council resolution.
“This court is an institution that has international legitimacy from a Security Council resolution that established it. That’s why it should be left out of the political rhetoric,” Qabbani said in a statement.
Full StoryA document aired on al-Manar TV allegedly proving that U.N. investigators probing ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder case had transferred IT equipment to Israel is baseless, a legal expert hinted to An Nahar daily published Sunday.
The expert said that the document, which was aired during a televised speech made by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday night, has a UNTSO stamp.
Full StoryMarch 14 general-secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid has said that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s keenness on the cabinet proves that the arms of the Shiite party have taken the country captive.
“The keenness that the man showed on the cabinet of Premier Najib Miqati confirms once again that Hizbullah puts the entire Lebanese republic under the captivity of its arms,” Soaid told An Nahar daily published Sunday.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri has said that Beirut was as calm as Norway’s capital Oslo when the Special Tribunal for Lebanon handed General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza a copy of the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case.
In remarks to An Nahar daily published Sunday, Berri said that Shiites proved their “commitment to the instructions of the political and religious leaderships and were not shocked by the accusations against the four people.”
Full StoryThe U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon is "political" and "disreputable" and its indictment against Hizbullah members is of no importance, Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Saturday.
The Netherlands-based STL investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri on Thursday charged four members of Hizbullah over the 2005 assassination of the former Lebanese premier.
Full StoryYediot Ahronot Israeli newspaper reported on Saturday that the international investigation committee in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premiere Rafik Hariri will “introduce a new list of accusations against Syrian security officials.”
The reports said that handing the names of the accused to Damascus has been “postponed due to the Syrian unrest.”
Full StoryGeneral Prosecutor Saeed Mirza has referred the arrest warrants issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to the central judicial department, to which he instructed the course of action to be taken in implementing the warrants.
He refused to uncover the specific measures he adopted, telling As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Saturday that these steps cannot be revealed.
Full StoryU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised on Thursday the release of the indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as an important milestone toward ending a period of impunity for political violence in Lebanon.
“The confirmation of the indictments by the pre-trial judge and their delivery by the Special Tribunal to the Lebanese authorities is an important milestone toward justice and ending a period of impunity for political violence in Lebanon,” Clinton said in a statement.
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