Mufti of the Lebanese Republic Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said Sunday that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was established to bring justice to the the slain former PM Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs of the nation and to find the murderers and punish them with the aim of deterring future political assassinations and to put an end to impunity .
Qabbani, one of the country’s leading religious leaders said lets leave the tribunal out of political rhetoric stressing that Lebanon is in dire need for political stability in order to reactivate the work of the institutions to allow them to take care of the people’s living conditions, social and administrative needs
He said that the Dar al Fatwa is keen on making sure Hariri gets the justice he deserves and that killers should be punished. He added this should be left to the concerned institutions only and out of political bickering
Qabbani’s comments come after Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said Saturday that members of his group indicted by the STL were unjustly accused, reiterating that the resistance would not cooperate with the tribunal.
The STL confirmed the indictments in the assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Hariri on Thursday. An STL delegation met with Lebanon’s state prosecutor Said Mirza on Thursday and handed him a copy of the Lebanon portion of the indictment and the arrest warrants. Two of the suspects Mustafa Badreddine and Salim Ayyash are reportedly senior members of the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah while the other two Hezbollah members Hassan Aneissy, also known as Hassan Issa, and Assad Sabra played a supporting role in the execution of the assassination.
Lebanon has 30 days to find and arrest the suspects but Nasrallah said last night:
“No Lebanese government will be able to carry out any arrests whether in 30 days, 30 years or even 300 years,” said the Shiite leader whose group dominates the current government.
“We reject the Special Tribunal for Lebanon along with each and every void accusation it issues, which to us is the equivalent of an attack against Hezbollah,” Nasrallah added in his hour-long speech.
Nasrallah admitted all the four suspects are Hezbollah members:
“The suspects named in the indictment are brothers who have an honorable history in resisting Israeli occupation.” He said
The whereabouts of the four remain unknown but some reports indicated that the two prime suspects in the assassination already fled to Iran.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.