Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi to follow up on the interview which was published Friday in TIME magazine with one of four Hezbollah members indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in the murder of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri .
“The justice minister received a phone call from Mikati who called for examining the issue based on legal protocol,” National News Agency reported. However, it did not elaborate any further.
In the TIME interview , one of the 4 accused of participating in the 2005 assassination of Hariri said that the Lebanese authorities know where he lives, adding that if they wanted to arrest him, “they would have done it a long time ago, but they cannot”
The magazine’s website said that a reporter found himself introduced to the accused during a recent conversation with a Hezbollah source.
Mirza denies
Qortbawi’s press office said in a statement that he called Attorney General Judge Said Mirza who denied that the relevant authorities know the whereabouts of the men indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
Mirza informed the justice minister that he will carry out the necessary legal procedure to ascertain the identity of the person in the TIME interview, NNA added.
Four Hezbollah members have already been indicted in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri by the UN-backed STL. However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refused to cooperate with the court.
Four members of Hezbollah have already been indicted in Hariri’s murder by the UN-backed STL. However, the Shiite group strongly denied the charges and refused to cooperate with the court.
Provocation
March 14 General Secretariat coordinator Fares Soueid said Saturday that the interview with TIME magazine, aims to provoke the international community.
The aim of the interview is for the suspect to say “I am here, and no one can get me,” Soueid told Akhbar al-Yawm news agency.
He also said that the interview with the suspect is “a huge scandal,” and called on Prime Minister Najib Mikati “to arrest this suspect, explain the background of this interview or resign.”
Charbel
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said that the relevant Lebanese judiciary must look into the TIME magazine interview .
“Such a statement should be considered as information that the Attorney General must inspect in order to see where it will lead ,” Charbel said in an interview with An-Nahar newspaper published on Saturday.
“ Is it is impossible that we searched for the accused [men] for 30 days and then one of them conducts an interview with the press,” Charbel asked without elaborating any further.
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