Judicial council refuses to deal with’ False witnesses file’

According to Central News agency ( CNA) the President of the Supreme Judicial Council Judge Ghaleb Ghanem told Lebanese President Michel Suleiman that the Council has refused to deal with with the false witnesses issue since the original file on the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri, is still with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon ( STL) and as long as this file is in its (STL) custody, it is not legal for the Judicial Council to deal with false witnesses issue.

This comes after the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance has called on the cabinet to ask the Judicial Council to investigate the issue of witnesses who gave unreliable testimonies to the international probe into the late PM Rafik Hariri’s 2005 murder.

On the other hand March 14 alliance is convinced that the regular judiciary should be able handle the matter.

The cabinet has been called for a meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Palace in Baabda with the “false witnesses file” as the first item on the session’s agenda. This will be the first meeting since the November 10 session, during which the discussion of the controversial false witnesses issue was postponed to avoid a divisive vote.

Tension escalated in Lebanon following reports that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will soon issue its indictment into the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Last July, the Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the tribunal is “an Israeli project” that will indict Hezbollah members. Nasrallah accused Israel of being behind Hariri’s assassination but refused to provide the evidence to STL to support his claim. Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have been calling for the abolition of STL.

Some leaders are concerned that should the court indict Hezbollah members, it could lead to a repeat of the My 2008 incident when Hezbollah gunmen occupied west Beirut and tried but failed to occupy Mt Lebanon, resulting in the killing of over one hundred Lebanese.

The Pro Syrian Al Akhbar newspaper reported earlier in the month that Hezbollah has prepared a plan to take over Lebanon when STL issues its indictment for the 2005 murder of the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun , (a close ally of Hezbollah ) said on November 18 that Hezbollah might violently respond to an STL indictment that accuses Hezbollah party’s members in Hariri’s assassination.

On December 7 a leading Israeli Military Intelligence official expressed concerns that Hezbollah might seize control of Lebanese government institutions .

“Dozens will be killed when Hezbollah uses force and takes over government institutions,” senior Military Intelligence official Colonel Yossi Adler told the Knesset in ‘a possible scenario if Hezbollah is indicted by STL.’