The Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s prosecutor Daniel Bellemare filed his first indictment this week amidst a political crisis in the country. Factions are at loggerheads about the existence of the tribunal, which seeks to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. 

For decades, international lawyers have wrangled over the question - What is terrorism? Is it an act designed to spread terror? Does it have a political motive? Does it involve an attack on a few people or alot of people? Since 1914, philosophers have pondered whether the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Sarajevo can be classified as an ‘act of terror’. More recently, the September 11 attacks in the US, have brought the issue of international terrorism to the forefront of debate, and with it the question of its very definition. 

Judge Antonio Cassese, the first president of the UN-backed Lebanon tribunal and the Yugoslavia war crimes court in The Hague, has died after a long fight with cancer.

[related-articles]Italian-born Cassese, 73, who stepped down as president of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Oct. 9 after more than two years in the post, died at his home in Florence, Italy, overnight, the Hague-based court said on Saturday.

There has been a mixed response to the announcement of the decision to “try the four men accused of the 14 February 2005 attack in their absence," by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on 1 February. The Tribunal was set up to probe the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others in Beirut.

By Lynn Maalouf, Beirut

[related-articles]Seven years after the bombing, this announcement brings a sense of anticipation - that at last, the judicial machinery can start rolling. With a hitch: the empty dock.

The tribunal investigating the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri has been asked to decide whether to try in absentia four Hezbollah members accused in the case, the court said on Monday.

The first hearing on trials in absentia under international law will take place before the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon on November 11. The defence and the prosecution will present arguments on moving into absentia proceedings.

Antonio Cassese was the first president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and is now head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). He just announced that he will visit Lebanon in the coming weeks to complete the investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) confirmed last week that the trial in the probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri is expected to start mid-2012. In Lebanon there is hardly anyone who believes the suspects will appear in court.

Six months after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) opened its doors, a drastically changed political and security environment in Lebanon, coupled with trim concrete output from The Hague, are driving even some of the tribunal’s staunchest advocates to adopt an increasingly cautious stance towards the court. This is visible in both dampened expectations and increasing questions as to whether the very mechanism will prove to be the best model for trying a crime of terrorism.