Middle East (Lebanon): Politicization of US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Al Jazeera

Hezbollah urges end to co-op with STL

Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah has once again dismissed as politicized the US-backed probe into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.

Head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohammad Raad also called for a freeze on all cooperation between Lebanese authorities and the tribunal until formation of the new government under Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, a Press TV correspondent reported.

“All cooperation between the agencies of special tribunal and the state must be frozen until formation of new government which will assume the responsibility of looking in this matter,” Raad told reporters in Beirut on Friday.

This is Hezbollah's first official response to what the resistance movement views as additional evidence of the politicization of the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

STL special prosecutor Danielle Bellmare had requested from four Lebanese ministers to provide the tribunal with data and information on Lebanese citizens including their phone numbers and fingerprints.

The ministers questioned the legality of the requests by rejecting the demands to cast further doubt on the STL's activities.

Mikati, who is in talks with Lebanese groups to form his government, has questioned the timing of Bellmare's request.

Self-styled moderate Mikati, who has also Hezbollah's support, says some people in the country are trying to put the country under chapter 7 of the UN charter.

The Lebanese caretaker prime minister and leading March 14 figure Saad Hariri also has vowed to remain committed to the tribunal as he rejected any participation in a government headed by Mikati.

The rivalry in Lebanon has reached its deepest level as the country gears up for some important events. Hariri's supporters are expected to stage a rally on March 14 as STL also will release its indictment into the Rafiq Hariri assassination. Such events could further complicate the already tense situation in the country.

Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005, when explosives equal to around 1,000 kilogram of TNT were detonated in downtown Beirut.


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