| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Saad Hariri urged to dismiss STL |
| 2011-01-15 |
| [Iran Press TV] Lebanese opposition groups have reportedly conditioned their support for Saad Hariri's reinstatement as premier to dismissal of US-backed tribunal set-up to probe his father's liquidation. Saad Hariri's unity government collapsed on Wednesday after 11 ministers from Hezbullies and its allies resigned in protest at Hariri's refusal to hold an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss abandoning the Washington-backed Special Tribunal for Leb (STL) and denouncing any indictments. Hariri, whose term was due to end in 2013, now acts as a caretaker prime minister and Leb's political parties are trying to form a new governing coalition. "Prime Minister Saad Hariri can head the new government if he pledges to stop the Special Tribunal for Leb," Al-Akhbar newspaper quoted a senior opposition official as saying on Friday. Some other opposition officials had earlier said that Hariri can return as prime minister only after meeting opposition conditions. "While a statement from Hariri would have been enough in the previous stage, he now has to meet a handful of conditions," one opposition source told An-Nahar. In the past, while acting as prime minister, Saad Hariri had refused to abandon the US-backed court investigating his father and former premier Rafiq Hariri's murder. Rafiq Hariri and 22 others were killed in February 2005 in a massive car boom kaboom in the capital Beirut. STL was established two years later to investigate the case. Many political parties in Leb, including Hezbullies resistance movement, have denounced the tribunal as an Israeli-American plot trying to sow discord in the country. According to unconfirmed reports, the tribunal plans to charge some members of Hezbullies in connection with the liquidation. Hezbullies, however, has vehemently denied any role in the killing, saying the United States is using the Washington-backed Special Tribunal for Leb in order to implicate the movement in the 2005 liquidation. The US is also accused of "crippling Arab efforts for a solution" to the political impasse in Leb. STL is expected to issue indictments as early as next week, although the release has been delayed several times already. |
| Posted by:Fred |