| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Hariri case complex: UN Lebanon tribunal chief |
| 2010-02-06 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] The head of a United Nations probe into the murder five years ago of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri said on Friday there were "no deadlines" in issuing indictments in the case, calling it highly complex. "All acts of terrorism are much more complicated than war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide," Antonio Cassese of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon told AFP during his first visit to Beirut. "We cannot set deadlines," he added. Cassese, who arrived in Lebanon on Monday on a week-long visit, said that unlike other crimes, political assassinations were harder to crack given the layers of secrecy involved. "Terrorist acts involve secret cells. There's no clear chain of command or hierarchy," he said. "Most of the time those involved will not confess because they risk being killed by their accomplices." Cassese and his deputy, Ralph Riachy, briefed senior officials including President Michel Suleiman on the tribunal's progress during their visit. They did not meet Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, son of the murdered prime minister, or Defense Minister Elias al-Murr "because of the personal link they have with cases that may fall under the tribunal's jurisdiction," Cassese's office said in a statement before his visit. Murr was also a minister in Rafiq Hariri's cabinet. The Hague-based tribunal was set up by a U.N. Security Council resolution in 2007 to try suspects in the murder of Hariri, killed in a massive bomb blast on Beirut seafront in February 2005. |
| Posted by:Fred |