Hezbollah again calls for end to Lebanese cooperation with UN probe

Mar 4, 2011, 13:20 GMT

Beirut - The Shiite movement Hezbollah on Friday reiterated its call for the Lebanese government to stop cooperating with the United Nations tribunal that is investigating the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Hezbollah caused Lebanon's previous government to collapse in January, when its ministers resigned from the cabinet over the issue of the UN tribunal.

The group and its allies then nominated Najib Mikati to replace Saad Hariri - the slain premier's son - as prime minister, but Mikati has been struggling to form a government.

'All operations between Lebanon and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) must be frozen until the formation of a new cabinet that decides on them,' Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammad Raad said at a press conference on Friday.

The STL is due to issue indictments in the Hariri case in the coming weeks, with Hezbollah members expected to be accused of involvement in the assassination.

Hezbollah has threatened in the past to 'cut the hands of anyone who will issue an accusation to one member of the group.'

Raad's comments on Friday came a few days after some caretaker ministers in the Lebanese government refused to offer assistance to STL prosecutor Daniel Bellemare.

Media reports said that Bellemare's office has asked interim Interior Minister Ziad Baroud for the fingerprints of numerous Lebanese citizens.

Baroud has confirmed to the Lebanese media that he provided the tribunal with fingerprint records, as requested by Bellemare.

'I couldn't provide the fingerprints of all of the Lebanese people, but we gave what was needed to (the tribunal),' he said.

Raad called the tribunal's requests for information as 'the greatest operation of tutelage and piracy that modern Lebanon has witnessed.'

'It violates all standards of justice, general freedoms, and human rights,' he added.

Raad also accused some political parties in Lebanon - in a clear reference to the younger Hariri and his allies - of trying to involve the United Nations Security Council to force Lebanon into complying with the tribunal's information requests.

Mikati has also voiced fears that some in Lebanon are trying to obtain a Security Council resolution to force compliance.

Raad said such a move would be 'irresponsible and unpatriotic.'

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