Word: hariri
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
More than three years after the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, charges and counter-charges over alleged Syrian responsibility continue to haunt the Middle East. But the outcome of the investigation into the killing of a leader who stood up to Syrian influence in his country may yet be decided in the realm of politics. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a senior Republican who recently visited Syria, last week publicly suggested that the U.N. inquiry into Hariri's killing could be reduced in scope in exchange for greater security and political cooperation from Damascus...
...just who will be implicated by the U.N. inquiry remains something of a mystery, despite the widespread speculation that Damascus had a hand in Hariri's killing. Last week, a star witness in the ongoing probe suddenly vanished while under French police protection. The complicated tale of the witness, identified as the chauffeur to a Syrian general suspected of involvement in planning the bomb attack that killed Hariri and 22 others, underscores some of the many problems that have surrounded the investigation. The French newspaper Le Figaro reports that evidence quickly emerged that the witness had been paid to implicate...
...latest report, released by Bellemare, is even sparser in details than those of Brammertz. By pinning Hariri's murder on an unidentified "criminal network," Bellemare is merely confirming the obvious - that it was a crime and that more than one person was involved...
...Last week, the U.N. announced that a special tribunal to judge those eventually indicted of the Hariri assassination could begin operating in April. The 11 judges have been selected, although their names are being withheld for now for security reasons. The tribunal will be located at the former Dutch intelligence headquarters outside The Hague. Some $60 million has been pledged by U.N. member states, sufficient to fund the court for a year...
...Most analysts predict Lebanon's political paralysis to continue, possibly into next year with the players dragging out the deadlock until after the U.S. presidential election. The one factor that could disrupt the stalemate, however, is if Bellemare begins issuing indictments for the Hariri murder...