Obama welcomes first indictment in Hariri assassination
Obama welcomes first indictment in Hariri assassination.
US President Barack Obama on Monday said he welcomes the first indictment in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
In a statement Monday, Obama called the indictment by a UN tribunal in Lebanon an important step toward ending the era of impunity for murder in the country and achieving justice for its people.
He called on all Lebanese leaders and factions to preserve calm and exercise restraint.
The president said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon must now be allowed to continue its work without interference and coercion.
“Any attempt to fuel tensions and instability, in Lebanon or in the region, will only undermine the very freedom and aspirations that the Lebanese people seek and that so many nations support,” Obama stated.
The prosecutor of the tribunal filed the first indictment in the case on Monday.
Details of suspects named in the indictment and the charges against them were not released.
Earlier in the day, AFP reported that Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be indicted for giving the order to kill Hariri in February 2005, and Lebanese news sources reported that Hizbullah members who planned and carried out the assassination would also be named.
Israeli officials continue to watch the events in Lebanon unfurl, but have been careful not to comment on the developments so as not to be seen as intervening one way or the other.
One source said that a finger pointed at Khamenei – although it would be a major news story – would be unlikely to change international attitudes toward Iran significantly, because the country is already “in the world’s dog house.”
Most of the world already knows what Iran is capable of doing, the source said, while other countries that support Iran – like Venezuela – would not be swayed one way or the other.
Revelations of Iranian involvement would also be unlikely to change anything inside Lebanon, for the simple reason that everyone there knows very well the closeness of the Iranian- Hizbullah ties, the sources said.
Hariri was killed along with 22 other people by a huge truck bomb blast on February 14, 2005, on Beirut’s Mediterranean sea front.
Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah said last year he expected members of his group to be indicted, a move that many fear could reignite sectarian violence in Lebanon.
The Shi’ite Hizbullah, backed by Iran and Syria, has denied any role in the killing.
On Monday evening, Hizbullah blamed the US for the indictment.
According to the Hizbullah-aligned television station Al-Manar, “Washington pushed the indictments in order to light the fuse that will blow up the bridges that were built in order to find a solution” after the Lebanese government collapsed last week.
“The Americans controlled the indictment in form and content,” Al- Manar charged.
Hariri was a Sunni, and many Lebanese worry that if the tribunal draws links between the assassination and Hizbullah, it could provoke bloodshed between Lebanon’s Shi’ite and Sunni communities.
Tribunal registrar Herman van Hebel said in a statement that prosecutor Daniel Bellemare had sent the indictments to Judge Daniel Fransen, who must decide whether to confirm or dismiss them or ask for more evidence.
Fransen is expected to spend six to 10 weeks studying the evidence before reaching a decision. The names of suspects and evidence against them will only be released if he decides the evidence is strong enough to merit putting them on trial.
News of the indictment comes as Lebanon’s government has been plunged into turmoil by the resignation last week of Hizbullah and its allies from a broad coalition led by Hariri’s son Saad, who remains caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.
Hizbullah quit the government after Saad Hariri refused to renounce the UN-backed tribunal investigating his father’s killing.
Nasrallah has said his group “will cut off the hand” of anyone who tries to arrest any of its members.
The US called Hizbullah’s walkout a transparent effort to subvert justice.
Lengthy negotiations between Lebanon’s factions lie ahead. Hizbullah says it will not support Hariri again for prime minister, but Hariri’s backers say they have no other candidate.
Nasrallah on Sunday defended the decision to bring down the government, saying his movement had done so without resorting to violence. The speech by Nasrallah – who commands an arsenal that far outweighs that of the national army – appeared aimed at keeping tensions in the country low.
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