April 17, 2010 - Now Lebanon - STL might not issue indictment before next spring

An anonymous source told As-Safir newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) pending indictment might not be issued before March or April 2011.

The source said that Prime Minister Saad Hariri and French President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed the issue of postponing the STL’s indictment – that was expected to be issued before the end of 2010 – during their meeting in France last week.

Saudi Arabia is highly concerned with the information presented by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan last week, which he said implicates Israel in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

“Contact between Saudi Arabia and Syria has been ongoing [concerning the STL issue],” the source said.

As-Safir also reported that the ministers of the March 8 alliance will hold a meeting in the upcoming hours to coordinate their stances, adding that they will address during Wednesday’s cabinet session the issue of witnesses who gave false testimonies to the STL in the Rafik Hariri murder.

Nasrallah earlier this month said he doubted the STL’s credibility and called for forming a Lebanese commission to investigate alleged false witnesses used in the tribunal’s investigation into the Rafik Hariri assassination.