Moussa
2011-07-01 04:47:43 UTC
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/lebanons-hezbollah-indicted-for-murder-of-former-prime-minister-hariri/story-e6frf7jx-1226085525716
Lebanon's Hezbollah indicted for murder of former prime minister Hariri
From: NewsCore
July 01, 2011 12:00PM
TWO members of Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah have been named by a UN
tribunal following a six-year investigation into the murder of Rafik
Hariri, the former prime minister.
Confirmation that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has identified
Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim organisation, is certain to antagonise sectarian
relations in Lebanon, already frayed by three months of anti-regime
violence in neighboring Syria.
"We should set the country's peace above all else as the indictments are
not judgments," said Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati after the release
of the names.
"The sensitivity of the circumstances calls on us to act reasonably to
prevent those seeking to create strife from achieving their goals."
Three officials from the tribunal, based in the Netherlands, delivered the
indictments to Said Mirza, Lebanon's prosecutor-general, who is supposed to
arrest the suspects.
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Although the names were meant to remain secret for 30 days, they quickly
leaked, British newspaper The Times reported.
They include Mustafa Badreddine, a senior Hezbollah official and
brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyah, Hizbollah's military commander who was
assassinated in Damascus in 2008.
According to sources close to the judiciary, Badreddine operates under the
alias of Sami Issa, a Lebanese Christian, and planned the murder.
Among the others named were Salim Ayyash, the reported head of Hizbollah's
"execution unit," Hassan Aneissy, known as Hassan Issa, and Assad Sabra.
Saad Hariri, the victim's son and himself a former prime minister, said:
"Together we witness a distinctive historic moment in the political,
judicial, security and moral life of Lebanon."
He has been living in France in recent weeks after apparent death threats.
"Lebanon has paid the price of this moment, in decades of killings and
assassinations without accountability," he added.
There was no immediate comment from Hizbollah, but it expected to shrug off
the announcement. Last Friday Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, its leader, said the
tribunal was no longer of any consequence.
Rafik Hariri died in a truck bombing in downtown Beirut in February 2005,
the blast taking the lives of 22 others.
The Syrian regime was widely suspected of ordering his murder after a deep
chill in relations with Damascus.
Lebanon's Hezbollah indicted for murder of former prime minister Hariri
From: NewsCore
July 01, 2011 12:00PM
TWO members of Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah have been named by a UN
tribunal following a six-year investigation into the murder of Rafik
Hariri, the former prime minister.
Confirmation that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has identified
Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim organisation, is certain to antagonise sectarian
relations in Lebanon, already frayed by three months of anti-regime
violence in neighboring Syria.
"We should set the country's peace above all else as the indictments are
not judgments," said Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati after the release
of the names.
"The sensitivity of the circumstances calls on us to act reasonably to
prevent those seeking to create strife from achieving their goals."
Three officials from the tribunal, based in the Netherlands, delivered the
indictments to Said Mirza, Lebanon's prosecutor-general, who is supposed to
arrest the suspects.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
Although the names were meant to remain secret for 30 days, they quickly
leaked, British newspaper The Times reported.
They include Mustafa Badreddine, a senior Hezbollah official and
brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyah, Hizbollah's military commander who was
assassinated in Damascus in 2008.
According to sources close to the judiciary, Badreddine operates under the
alias of Sami Issa, a Lebanese Christian, and planned the murder.
Among the others named were Salim Ayyash, the reported head of Hizbollah's
"execution unit," Hassan Aneissy, known as Hassan Issa, and Assad Sabra.
Saad Hariri, the victim's son and himself a former prime minister, said:
"Together we witness a distinctive historic moment in the political,
judicial, security and moral life of Lebanon."
He has been living in France in recent weeks after apparent death threats.
"Lebanon has paid the price of this moment, in decades of killings and
assassinations without accountability," he added.
There was no immediate comment from Hizbollah, but it expected to shrug off
the announcement. Last Friday Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, its leader, said the
tribunal was no longer of any consequence.
Rafik Hariri died in a truck bombing in downtown Beirut in February 2005,
the blast taking the lives of 22 others.
The Syrian regime was widely suspected of ordering his murder after a deep
chill in relations with Damascus.