Hezbollah rejects referral of Hasan’s case to STL

Hezbollah Tuesday rejected the case of slain Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan being referred to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. “The Cabinet decided to refer Hasan’s case to the judicial council, which is the supreme judicial authority in the country... Giving an international dimension to the case will add nothing to it,” Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem told Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency. The March 14 coalition has been calling for the investigation to be referred to the STL, the U.N.-backed court investigating the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Qassem also said the Lebanese authorities should conduct a serious and effective investigation into Hasan’s killing to reveal the perpetrators of the crime. “Such assassination is a big and very unusual matter in light of the current Lebanese situation and the Lebanese authorities should conduct a serious investigation to reveal who was behind the crime,” he said. Asserting that the crime is “indeed an attempt to disturb Lebanon’s stability,” Qassem called on Lebanese parties to unite and foil such attempts. “We call for the non-exploitation of such a crime politically... We are required to be united against any attempts to strike Lebanon’s stability,” said Qassem. Hasan, 47, played a key role in Lebanon’s security as the ISF intelligence chief. Most notably he helped uncover a number of Israeli spying networks as well as a plot by a former Lebanese minister to move explosives from Syria to Lebanon. His assassination was fiercely condemned on both local and international levels, and triggered angry reactions in both Beirut and the northern city if Tripoli. From DailyStar