| Hussein Assi | ||||
Former Minister Issam Naaman to Al-Manar Website:
Former Minister Issam Naaman said that the decision made by Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen concerning lifting confidentiality off the full names and aliases, biographical information, photographs and charges of the four suspects in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was completely comic. He noted that the names of the four suspects were leaked even before Lebanese Prosecutor Judge Said Mirza opened this file. While noting that the new ‘revelations’ will not change anything in the general picture, he spoke of two possibilities that could be adopted by the tribunal: either postponing trials until arresting the suspects “in 300 years,” or conducting trials in absentia. THE INNOCENT… OFFICERS! Former Minister Issam Naaman recalled of the entire course of investigations conducted by the tribunal and the international independent investigation commission, and noted how leaks surrounded it since its first days.  He recalled how the first chief of the IIIC, German Judge Detlev Mehlis, had leaked information on the investigations, and said these leaks signaled that there was a specific trend seeking to accuse Syria of involvement in the former Prime Minister’s murder. “Afterwards, four major senior officers in the Lebanese state were arrested and put in jail for some four years,” he said, in reference to former head of the general security department, Jamil Sayyed, former head of the presidential guard Mustafa Hamdan, former head of the International Security Forces Ali Hajj, and former military intelligence chief Raymond Azar.“Afterwards, false witnesses were uncovered, obliging the IIIC’s second chief Judge Serge Brammertz to send a recommendation to the Lebanese judiciary authorities, General Prosecutor Said Mirza, in which he stated that there was no evidence against the officers and that they could be released. But Mirza did not free them, under the pretext that such a move could create chaos in the country, given that the agreement signed between the United Nations Security Council and the Lebanese government gives the international tribunal the absolute power to deal with the original case, that is Hariri’s case and those related to it.” “Following the end of Brammertz’s mandate, Judge Daniel Bellemare was appointed as the IIIC chief. He reached the same conclusion and gave the same recommendation to the Lebanese judiciary, but nothing happened for the same reasons. But, when Bellemare was assigned as prosecutor, he raised the issue with Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen who ordered the release of the four officers due to the absence of any evidence against them, in other words, because they are innocent.” LEAKS… TRIBUNAL’S MAIN ASPECT  Naaman went on to say that the tribunal never enjoyed anything called confidentiality as leaks were its aspect since its first days. In this context, he pointed to the leaks that anticipated the release of the indictment, referring to the reports published in French daily Le Figaro, German magazine Der Spiegel, Kuwaiti daily As-Siyassah, in addition to some Israeli newspapers. He also pointed to the statement made in September by then Israeli Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi who said that the indictment would name members of Hezbollah and would lead to chaos in Lebanon.The former minister said that all these leaks were a proof of the non-confidentiality, and criticized Judge Fransen’s decision, which ordered the lifting confidentiality off the full names and aliases, biographical information, photographs and charges against the suspects named in the indictment. He noted that everything was uncovered since a long time, and mainly when the Lebanese Prosecutor was provided with a part of the indictment. “At the time, the four names were leaked even before Mirza opened the file containing their names,” he said. BELLEMARE’S WORDS BASELESS  Answering a question about the STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s statement in which he claimed that publicizing the information may increase the possibility that the accused gets apprehended, Naaman said that such words were useless and they change nothing in the general picture.Concerning the next steps, Naaman said that the government is expected to submit August 13, a report to the tribunal on the outcome of the trace. He spoke of two possibilities that could be adopted by the tribunal: either postponing trials until arresting the suspects “in 300 years,” or conducting trials in absentia. Answering another question about possible sanctions to be imposed on Lebanon in case the four suspects were not arrested, Naaman said that such sanctions were not possible and that they were out of question. He explained that the UNSC resolution 1757, which created the tribunal, did not refer to the Chapter 7 part allowing the implementation of military procedures. CHANGING RULES OF ENGAGEMENT  To conclude, Former Minister Issam Naaman spoke of the recent developments in relation to the oil wealth. He pointed to what he called a “change in the rules of engagement,” but stressed that this change did not take place as Israel hoped, but according to the new balance declared by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in his latest speech “oil-for-oil”.Naaman noted that Israel was seeking a change in the rules of engagement in relation to the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL). “Currently, these forces cannot enter southern residents’ homes without the approval and accompaniment of the Lebanese Army. Israel is seeking to delete this condition, but it will fail.” He declared, however, that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah succeeded in changing the rules of engagement through the “oil-for-oil” new balance, when he declared that whoever harms the future maritime Lebanese projects, will face the same damage and Israel knows that Lebanon is capable of such damage. | ||||
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River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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