NOW Lebanon - Khoury: Colored substance in Beirut River ‘not dangerous’, March 1, 2012,

Environment Minister Nazem al-Khoury said on Thursday that the laboratory tests on the substance that caused the Beirut River to turn red in February was “not dangerous.”

“The substance falls in the category of organic material that is not dangerous and that does not harm the environment,” he said in a press conference.

He added that work was underway to find out which industrial institutions use this sort of dye.

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=370982#

The Daily Star - STL: Court would need expanded mandate to tackle false witnesses issue, March 1, 2012

BEIRUT: President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Judge Sir David Baragwanath said that looking into the issue of “false witnesses” and assassinations that occurred after 2005 would require approval by Lebanon’s government and the U.N. Security Council.

In a video posted on the STL’s website, Baragwanath said the U.N.-backed court had no jurisdiction over the issue of so-called "false witnesses," but went on to clarify that “if the government of Lebanon and the United Nations and indeed the Security Council were to agree that we should receive jurisdiction to deal with this topic then of course we would.”

Four of the country's security officials were arrested in late 2005 for suspicion of involvement in Hariri's assassination, but were released in 2009 by former STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, one month after the establishment of the court. The matter gave rise to speculation regarding individuals who may have falsely implicated the security officials in the crimes.

“In 2009, when we were established, the first thing that happened was that the prosecutor came to us and said the generals who have been detained are people against whom we do not have sufficient evidence to sustain the charges and the pretrial judge was asked to and did make an order to release the generals and that was the end of the matter as far as the tribunal is concerned,” Baragwanath said.

The president also said that for the tribunal to extend its jurisdiction to investigate cases which occurred after 2005 would require the agreement of the U.N. and Lebanon’s government.

He noted that the court’s jurisdiction is restricted to the period between Oct.1, 2004 and Dec. 12, 2005 and that if crimes during that period are connected to the attack against Hariri, the tribunal would consider them.

The court has established that there are links between Hariri's assassination and the attempted assassination of MP Marwan Hamdeh in October 2005 and former Deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr, who was targeted on July 12, 2005.

The court has also established links between Hariri's killing and the assassination of former Communist Party leader George Hawi on June 21, 2005.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Mar-01/165188-stl-court-would-need-expanded-mandate-to-tackle-false-witnesses-issue.ashx#axzz1nr6lJzTR

The Daily Star - Arrest warrant issued for Sidon killer, March 2, 2012

BEIRUT: An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for the killer of a 67-year-old money changer in the southern city of Sidon earlier this week.

Sidon’s investigative magistrate Afif Barakat issued an arrest warrant for 22-year-old Syrian national Nasser Fares, who killed money changer Mohammad al-Natout during a robbery Tuesday.

Barakat said he will move quickly to close the investigation so that Fares is put on trial at the earliest possible opportunity.

A lifeless Natout was found Tuesday morning in his establishment, located on the main Beirut-Sidon highway. Preliminary indications are that he was stabbed to death.

Fares, who stole $5,000 in cash from Natout’s store, was arrested while attempting to flee to Syria by taxi, security sources told The Daily Star following his apprehension a few hours later. They said Fares confessed to the murder.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Mar-01/165175-arrest-warrant-issued-for-sidon-killer.ashx#axzz1nr6UypeJ

NOW Lebanon - Norman Farrell steps up as new STL prosecutor, March 1, 2012

A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Wednesday that 53-year-old Canadian jurist Norman Farrell will be replacing his compatriot, Daniel Bellemare, as prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). Bellemare, who has held the position since March 1, 2009, is stepping down for health reasons.

To the Office of the Prosecutor, Farrell brings over a decade of senior UN tribunal experience, including four years as deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and six years as the senior appeals counsel for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Prior to those appointments, he worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a number of humanitarian and criminal law roles in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ethiopia and Switzerland. From 1988 to 1996, he was crown counsel of the Criminal Division with the Attorney General for the Province of Ontario in Canada.

Farrell has also been a visiting scholar at the International Studies Center, Queens University Law School, and has lectured extensively on humanitarian law in countries such as Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Italy and Canada.

At the ICTY, Farrell investigated and prosecuted some of the most infamous war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, including the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.  Specifically, his office dealt with four categories of crimes: grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, violations of the laws of war, genocide and crimes against humanity.

As the first war crimes court to be created by the UN, the ICTY established a number of precedents that have made historic contributions to international law, such as the ruling that rape is a form of torture and crime against humanity. Perhaps most significantly, the ICTY brought an end to legal impunity for senior statesmen in cases of severe breaches of international law: the 161 individuals indicted by the ICTY thus far include a president and several prime ministers and senior political, military and paramilitary leaders. Such a contribution may be highly pertinent to the case of the STL, in which the “fight against impunity,” noted Bellemare in his resignation letter, is the central, “long and difficult journey.”

Similarly, at the ICTR, Farrell was involved in the prosecution of those responsible for genocide and other grave breaches of humanitarian law occurring in Rwanda during 1994.

The secretary general’s spokesperson also announced the appointment of ICC Appeals Judge Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko as a replacement of the late Judge Antonio Cassese in the Appeals Chamber.

STL spokesperson Marten Youssef told NOW Lebanon that the STL “welcomes the news” of the two appointments, adding: “Both of them bring vast international experience and will surely contribute to the work of the Tribunal.”

Norman Farrell: CV summary

2008 – 2012: Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
2005 – 2008: Principal Legal Officer in ICTY’s Office of the Prosecutor
1999 – 2005: Senior Appeals Counsel and Head of Appeals Section in Office of the Prosecutor for both the ICTY and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
1996 – 1999: International Committee of the Red Cross: Delegate and Coordinator in charge of dissemination of International Humanitarian Law in Bosnia & Herzegovina; Legal Advisor on International Humanitarian Law in Ethiopia; Advisor on International Criminal Law and International Humanitarian Law in Switzerland
1988 – 1996: Crown Counsel (Criminal Division) with Attorney General for Province of Ontario, Canada