Khamenei Pours Scorn On International Tribunal

During talks with Qatari emir, Iran’s supreme leader rejects any verdict in advance

By Hussein Dakroub
This article was published in The Daily Star on 21/12/2010

BEIRUT: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Monday any verdict by the UN-backed court into the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri as “null and void” in remarks likely to increase political tension in Lebanon ahead of the impending indictment.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, a senior March 8 political source close to Hizbullah ruled out any immediate reaction from the group when the draft indictment is sent to the pre-trial judge.

“Any Hizbullah reaction will happen only when the draft indictment has been confirmed by the pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen,” the source told The Daily Star, shortly after Khamenei made his statement. The source added that confirmation of the draft indictment would take weeks.

Referring to the UN-appointed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which will prosecute suspects in the assassination, Iran’s state television quoted Khamenei as saying it “is a rubber-stamp [tribunal] whose verdict is null and void whatever it is.” Khamenei spoke during a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the station said.

Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in the Islamic Republic, said: “I hope the influential parties involved in Lebanon will act on the basis of wisdom and logic so that this [tribunal outcome] does not turn into a problem.”

Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain leader, visited Iran last month seeking its help to defuse political tensions in Lebanon over the indictment.

In the first reaction from the March 14 coalition, Labor Minister Butros Harb criticized Khamenei’s remarks, saying that it was up to the Lebanese to decide, “and not for others to dictate to them how to deal with the tribunal.”

He told MTV that the tribunal was an issue that concerns the Lebanese more than others because the victims who were killed were Lebanese. “We are counting on the tribunal to achieve justice … The tribunal is an important issue for the Lebanese,” Harb said.

MP Jamal al-Jarrah, a member of Hariri’s Future parliamentary bloc, linked Khamenei’s statement to the fierce campaign against the STL launched by Hizbullah and its allies in the March 8 alliance. Khamenei’s remarks are a move to legitimize the March 8 positions, Jarrah told MTV.

Khamenei’s remarks come as the STL is preparing to release its draft indictment, which is widely expected to implicate some Hizbullah members in Hariri’s killing.

Political tension has been simmering for months between the March 8 and March 14 camps over the STL’s upcoming indictment, raising fears of sectarian strife and leading to a Cabinet paralysis and a split between the two factions over the issue of “false witnesses” linked to the UN probe into Hariri’s killing.

Meanwhile, the same March 8 political source close to Hizbullah said that “international efforts” are being made to delay the release of the indictment. He said these efforts were not related to the Saudi-Syrian efforts seeking to find a solution for the Lebanese deadlock over the indictment.

“Qatar and France are also seeking to promote a solution for the Lebanese crisis,” the source said. “The Syrian-Saudi efforts have reached an advanced stage, but this does not mean that we are against the Qatari bid.” 

The March 8 and March 14 factions have examined a Saudi-Syrian working paper and have both voiced their remarks on it and suggested some amendments, the source said. So far, no details of the Saudi-Syrian blueprint have been disclosed. “I fear that we might have two different readings of the Saudi-Syrian working paper because we don’t meet with each other,” the source said.

The source reiterated the March 8 camp’s demands that the Lebanese government block funding for the STL, withdraw Lebanese judges from the court and cancel its cooperation protocol with tribunal.

“We know that we cannot affect a decision from the UN Security Council to abolish the tribunal. But we think those steps are sufficient,” the source said. He ruled out the convening of the Cabinet before the New Year.

He stressed that the March 8 ministers were not boycotting the Cabinet and that they will sign any decree that does not need a Cabinet session.

In a separate development, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he opposed any politicization of the STL’s work. “The proceedings of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon must not be politicized,” the official Syrian news agency SANA quoted Erdogan as saying.

Erdogan called for support of diplomatic efforts by Saudi Arabia and Syria to calm tensions in Lebanon. “Maintaining stability in Lebanon is very important for the region,” said Erdogan, who visited Lebanon last month.

“Turkey supports the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon, attaches extreme importance to stability in that country and therefore supports the government of national unity led by Saad Hariri,” he said.

With the indictment generating widespread speculation in the media, Francois Roux, the head of the STL’s Defense Office, stressed the importance of the presumption of innocence in all criminal proceedings.

Roux, who has just ended a four-day visit to Lebanon, noted that when the prosecutor submits the indictment to the pre-trial judge, the proceedings will enter a new phase that will either result in a confirmation or a dismissal of one or more counts in the indictment, according to a statement issued by the STL in the Netherlands.

During this phase, the content of the indictment will remain confidential. This preserves the presumption of innocence and avoids disclosing the names of persons that might not be accused at all.

Roux also underlined that any complete or partial confirmation of the indictment would only mark a start of the proceedings, and recalled that the accused may assign a counsel of their own choice to whom the Defense Office provides legal support. It is during this trial process that the prosecution will have to prove the accusations beyond reasonable doubt. The defense should be given every opportunity to challenge the evidence presented by the prosecution and to present its own witnesses and exculpatory evidence. This might also include those persons who have been referred to as “false witnesses,” who could be summoned at the request of each party, the statement said.