In response to an International Criminal Court indictment in the assassination of Rafiq Al-Hariri against four Hizbullah officials, Ibrahim Al-Amin, head of the board of directors for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to the organization, said that Lebanon faces a tough problem. He said that its judicial branch lacks the ability to arrest the four suspects, as the ICC demands, and that as a result sanctions against Lebanon will be forthcoming.
Another article in Al-Akhbar stated that aside from the difficulties in locating the suspects, the power balance in Lebanon would prevent even the thought of attempting to arrest them.
Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abd Al-Karim said that the leaks surrounding the contents of the indictment, and the fact that Israeli media was the first to report on it and praise it, destroyed its credibility.
Hizbullah MP Kamel Al-Rifa'i said that the timing of the indictment's publication was intended to sow fitna [civil strife], and that this document was stillborn.
At the same time, the new government in Lebanon ratified its guidelines, after two weeks of disagreements on the clause that deals with the ICC. The final version reads: "Since it respects ICC decisions, the Lebanese government stresses its desire to expose the truth behind the crime of the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, and it will follow the actions of the tribunal, which was essentially established to seek justice, avoiding politicization or vindictiveness, and in a way that will not harm Lebanon's stability, unity, and its internal order."
March 14 Forces activists claimed that with this clause, the government washed its hands of the ICC.
Source: Al-Akhbar, Al-Mustaqbal, Nowlebannon.com (Lebanon), July 1, 2011.
