As Safir is misleading the public over STL decisions, report

The pro-Syrian media continues to undermine the Special Tribunal for Lebanon by leaking information that is not credible with the aim of eliminating the Tribunal according to Lebanese legal experts.

The most active pro-Syrian newspaper has been the As Safir daily

Yesterday As Safir reported that President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that the decisions of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon lie in the hands of the U.S.

Based on As Safir report MP Walid Jumblatt joind the list of critics and repeated what the daily reported when he said “Washington is behind a decision to be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicting people in the murder of former PM Rafik Hariri “.

“This phase requires a wait-and-see strategy,” Jumblatt said in remarks published by several Beirut dailies on Wednesday.

“The decision of the International Tribunal, however, is in the hands of the Americans as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted as telling a senior Arab official,” Jumblatt added.

Jumblatt warned against dragging the country into civil strife.

Meanwhile France has completely denied comments attributed to President Nicolas Sarkozy that the decision of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon lies in the hands of the U.S.

Media sources in Paris quoted French officials as saying that Sarkozy stressed that the STL is “independent” and that “no one can pressure it (court) toward postponing the issuance of the charge sheet because all the elements associated with this resolution are not in the hands of France nor America nor the States funding the tribunal.”

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was established under chapter VII. STL is a completely independent. Pursuant to Article 10 of the Tribunal’s Statute, the Prosecutor ( Daniel Bellemare ) is the only person responsible for the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for the crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.

At this stage no body knows who will be indicted, despite the fact that Nasrallah has revealed that some members of the party will be indicted. Such information according to Ya Libnan legal advisers is not coming from STL …but is most probably assumptions or extrapolations coming from Hezbollah members that were interrogated by the Investigators.