Crisis-stricken Lebanese government approves Hariri tribunal
After the resignation of all its Shi'ite members, the Lebanese cabinet approved, on 13 November, the international tribunal to try the suspected perpetrators of the February 2005 bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [IJT-51-56]. The UN proposal now moves to the Security Council before ratification by the Lebanese parliament. According to the Washington Post, the UN proposal calls for a tribunal with an international prosecutor and Lebanese deputy prosecutor, while the majority of judges will be international.
After the resignation of all its Shi'ite members, the Lebanese cabinet approved, on 13 November, the international tribunal to try the suspected perpetrators of the February 2005 bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [IJT-51-56]. The UN proposal now moves to the Security Council before ratification by the Lebanese parliament. According to the Washington Post, the UN proposal calls for a tribunal with an international prosecutor and Lebanese deputy prosecutor, while the majority of judges will be international. It seems the court, modeled after that for Sierra Leone, except that it will likely be based outside Lebanon, could also have jurisdiction over other attacks on Lebanese journalists and politicians between October 2004 and December 2005. Over the past two weeks, writes the Washington Post, Russia has sparred with the Secretary General over the proposed tribunal. An ally of Syria, whose leaders are directly targeted by the Hariri investigation, Moscow first insisted that the UN Security Council pick the judges. It later withdrew its demand, but then asked that any persons convicted serve their sentence in Lebanon.
