TIME reporter interviews Hariri assassination Hezbollah suspect

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon last Wednesday said that the pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen had “found the prosecution presented sufficient evidence on a prima facie basis to proceed to trial” in connection with the car bombing in February 14, 2005, which killed Hariri and 22 others. Following Judge Fransen’s recent rulings on connectivity and deferral, the Office of the Prosecutor looks forward to receiving the relevant files from the Lebanese authorities in relation to the following cases: - The attack of 1 October 2004 against Marwan Hamadeh, resulting in the death of one person and injury to Mr. Hamadeh and several other persons; - The attack of 21 June 2005 against George Hawi, resulting in his death and injury to another person; - The attack of 12 July 2005 against Elias El Murr, resulting in the death of one person and injury to Mr. El Murr and more than twenty other persons. The Pre-Trial Judge’s decisions mark a new chapter in the Office of the Prosecutor’s work.  They are the first findings on jurisdiction for connected cases under Article 1 of the STL Statute. As a result of the deferral decisions, the Prosecutor’s office will have exclusive jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute these cases. The Lebanese judicial authorities retain jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the other attacks not yet found to be connected with the Hariri case and not yet deferred to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. “My thoughts are with each and every victim and their families who have been affected by the violent acts of terrorism that have plagued Lebanon,” said the Prosecutor. “You have shown patience and dignity in the face of so much pain and suffering. My team and I will continue to work tirelessly in the pursuit of justice”, concluded the Prosecutor. In recent developments, future bloc MP Ammar Houri on Tuesday voiced his surprise of the fact that a reporter was able to reach one of the four persons indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is probing the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, while the state could not. “It is clear, as per the confirmation of  TIME magazine, that the [alleged] interview took place,  regardless of the identity of the journalist who conducted it,” he told OTV station. The interview appeared online Thursday evening and was supposedly with one of the four men accused by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon of the 2005 assassination of Hariri. In it, the interviewee denied the charges against him and boasted that although Lebanese authorities knew where he was, they were unable to arrest him. TIME magazine correspondent Nicholas Blanford met with State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza in the presence of his lawyer in spite of the reporter’s insistence that he knew nothing about where the contentious interview came from. “[TIME editors in New York] said they had an interview [with a suspect]. What struck me as a surprise was how they got the interview,” Blanford told The Daily Star. “The interview came out of the blue for me after I’d been commissioned to write an analysis piece. “My name is the only one associated with the article, so I’m the starting point [for investigations],” he added. Although the STL has so far refused to comment on the interview, Blanford said that if court investigators wanted to speak with him, he would cooperate. “If they wanted to meet me and talk, I can’t say no,” he said. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said the article was “dangerous” and sought to target Hezbollah. “We have to be careful not to allow these attempts to harm our stability,” he said. [Journalists] have an important and effective role [in this].” He stressed that his ministry was cooperating with the international court, as Lebanon is obligated to do under agreements it signed with the U.N. in 2007. “The relationship between the STL and the Lebanese government is through the Prosecutor General’s office and when there are any issues within the prerogatives of the Interior Ministry we won’t hesitate and will cooperate all the way to the end,” Charbel was quoted as saying by the Central News Agency.  Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi joined Charbel by saying that Lebanon would cooperate with “all decisions of the STL.” Houri also addressed the Future Movement’s relation with the Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani saying that his party might disagree with the Mufti on certain matters but they agree on the national principles. A Hezbollah delegation met with Qabbani last week in order to discuss the latest developments on the local level. The STL, which was established by the United Nations in 2007 to investigate the killing, has had a polarising effect on Lebanese domestic politics, dividing the country into two distinct camps; those who believe the STL is pushing forward a political agenda to bring down Hezbollah, and those who believe that the court is the only institution that will be able to objectively rule on the killing. Hezbollah and its cabinet allies have dominated Lebanon\'s coalition government since members of a coalition led by Saad Hariri, Rafiq al-Hariri\'s son, quit amid controversy over the STL investigation. Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the assassination, saying that the investigation leading up to the indictments had been politically motivated and ignored the possibility of investigating other suspects.