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Lebanon: UN's Hariri tribunal issues arrest warrants

June 30, 2011

Lebanese wave national flags as they gather in February 2008 to commemorate the third anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Lebanon's state prosecutor has received the indictments from the UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

The state prosecutor said he also received four arrests warrants from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in The Hague.

Hariri and 21 others were killed in February 2005 in Beirut when a bomb went off as his motorcade passed by.

The indictment was widely expected to charge members of the Shi'ite military and political group Hizballah over Hariri's assassination.

The cabinet is meeting later in the day to agree its policy toward the Special Tribunal, which has given Lebanon 30 days to respond.

Hariri's son, opposition leader Saad Hariri, hailed the release of the indictment as a "historic moment."

But divisions over the tribunal have thrown the country into political turmoil and sparked fears of sectarian unrest. Hizballah has warned "that none of its members will be interrogated or questioned in this regard."

compiled from agency reports

Link to original story on RFE/RL website

Topics: Human rights courts, International tribunals,