BEIRUT: MP Walid Jumblatt, said Wednesday the Cabinet should condemn a UN-backed probe into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and reject its impending indictment.
“It would be appropriate at this time for the Cabinet to meet and unanimously denounce the tribunal and its [upcoming] verdict],” he told AFP.
“This tribunal is aimed at destabilizing Lebanon rather than rendering justice,” added Jumblatt, who heads the Progressive Socialist Party.
“It is clear that this probe is being used for political purposes,” he said. “It is clear that the investigators are leaking information and are working for countries that have accounts to settle.”
The lawmaker’s remarks come two days after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) broadcast a documentary that implicated Hizbullah in the assassination of Hariri.
In the documentary, CBC investigative reporter Neil Macdonald claimed that Internal Security Forces Intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan – a longtime confidante of the Hariri family – may have had a role in Hariri’s killing.
Hizbullah has stressed since July that the impending indictment of the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) could target members from the party, while strongly denying any involvement in the assassination.
The Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition slammed the STL as an “Israeli project” targeting the resistance, and said the key to uncovering the truth behind the crime lay in referring the issue of “false witnesses” – who gave testimonies to implicate Syria – to the Judicial Council, the highest judicial authority in Lebanon.
But rival March 14 parties believe the STL is the only means to punish criminals, and consider that the issue of “false witnesses” should be handled by regular judiciary after the STL hands down its indictment.
The standoff over the matter has paralyzed Cabinet and disrupted the National Dialogue committee’s meetings.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea told AFP that Saudi-Syrian talks trying to reach a compromise acceptable to both sides “have not progressed for two weeks and everything is almost over because of differing stances.”
“The Saudi proposal calls for getting ready to contain the … indictment and its consequences while the Syrians insist on preventing or delaying its issuance,” he said.
The LF leader added that he would ask this week President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri to call for a Cabinet session. “If Hizbullah’s group wants to be absent, then let them bear responsibility for paralyzing the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc called on the Cabinet to reach a final decision on the issue of “false witnesses.”
Meanwhile, Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc called on the Cabinet to reach a final decision on the issue of “false witnesses.”
“The Lebanese Cabinet is invited to reach a final decision on the issue of false witnesses that harmed Lebanon … and justice along with the special brotherly ties with Syria,” said a statement issued by the bloc.
“The bloc sees no justification for disrupting the Cabinet and reiterates its position that the necessary path leading to truth [in Hariri’s murder] lies in probing false witnesses and their sponsors,” added the statement.
The bloc urged the Cabinet to behave responsibly when dealing with the “claimed Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanese part of Ghajar.”
Earlier in November, the Israeli Cabinet decided “in principle” to pull out its troops from the Lebanese part of Ghajar, after which troop of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are set to take control of the territory.
“The Lebanese will not be deceived by a masked Israeli occupation of the Lebanese sector of Ghajar, and they will remain determined to liberate all their occupied land,” said the statement.
However, Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi said the situation in Lebanon was “progressing.”
“There are Iranian-Saudi, Iranian-Syrian and Iranian-Turkish contacts [to ease tensions in Lebanon],” he told reporters after holding talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at the latter’s residence in Ain al-Tineh.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani said Syria and Saudi Arabia were following up on the Lebanese matter. “We are waiting, we want Lebanon to enjoy security away from sectarian tension,” he told reporters after receiving Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Qatar.
March 8 Christian parties’ sources told The Daily Star that the coalition ministers would withdraw from the Cabinet if the indictment implicating Hizbullah in the crime was issued before Saudi-Syrian talks bear fruit.
According to the sources, March 8 parties could form a new cabinet, headed by a pro-March 8 Sunni premier that could ask the Parliament to reconsider the agreement between Lebanon and the STL due to its unconstitutionality and could ask the United Nations to amend the agreement in line with the Lebanese laws and Constitution.
However, other political sources ruled out any resignations from the government, saying that the Cabinet was a Syrian-Saudi red line. – WithAFP
No comments:
Post a Comment