Lebanon First bloc MP Hadi Hobeich on Tuesday commented on President
Michel Sleiman’s statements regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
(STL) probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri.
“Every Lebanese citizen has the right to comment on the matter of
the UN-backed court the same way I have the right to comment on
Hezbollah’s weapons,” Hobeich told Future News.
Hobeich also said that “the government will eventually fund the
UN-backed court and will reveal the lies of the March 8 [parties]
because they lost credibility.”
President Michel Sleiman said in an interview with As-Sharq
newspaper published on Tuesday that he cannot [cancel] the fact that
some [negative statements have been issued] regarding the STL’s [work].”
The tribunal is funded by an assortment of donor countries from
around the world, as well as Lebanon. However, Hezbollah and other
March 8 parties and figures – in particular Aoun - have spoken out
against Lebanon’s ties and funding for the tribunal and called it a
tool to incite sectarian strife in Lebanon.
Lebanon contributes 49 percent of the STL’s annual funding.
Asked about Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s the alleged “secret” visit
to Syria, Hobeich said that “it is natural that the Syrian regime
chooses one of its allies to speak in its name before the international
community.”
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Tuesday that Mikati met
with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Syrian military official
Rustom Ghazali in Damascus in September, during which the PM was
supposed to be in France.
He also commented on the General Workers’ Union demands to raise the minimum wage.
“The purchasing power has been [decreasing] for the past ten years,
and the wages must be raised,” Hobeich said adding that “such demands
are not political and concern all the Lebanese people.”
Last month, the General Workers’ Union announced a general strike on October 12 and demanded an increase in he minimum wage.
Regarding the situation in Syria the MP also said that the Syrian
revolution is not staged and “it is not manipulated by any [foreign]
country.”
“The statements saying that the Syrian National Council does not
represent all the opposing [parties] proves that the uprising is not
manipulated by anyone or any country.”
He also said that “the international community does not yet have the capabilities to intervene in the Syrian [uprising].”
Assad’s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five
decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over
2,700 people, according to the UN Human Rights Council, and triggering
a torrent of international condemnation.
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