Special Tribunal for Lebanon
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, is a tribunal of international character[1][2] applying Lebanese criminal law[3] under the authority of the United Nations to carry out the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for 14 February 2005 assassination of Rafic Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, and the deaths of 21 others,[4][5][6] as well as those responsible for connected attacks.[7]
Special Tribunal for Lebanon
2009
Appointment by the United Nations Secretary-General
3 years
9
Ivana Hrdličková
2015
Ralph Riachi
2009
The Tribunal officially opened on 1 March 2009[8][9] and has primacy over the national courts of Lebanon.[10] The Tribunal has its seat in Leidschendam, on the outskirts of The Hague, Netherlands, and a field office in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Its official languages are Arabic, French and English.[11] The Tribunal is unique among international criminal tribunals in that it may hold trials in absentia,[12] and it is the first to deal with terrorism as a distinct crime.[13] The Tribunal's eleven judges, a combination of Lebanese and international judges, are appointed by the UN Secretary-General for a renewable term of three years.[14]
The Tribunal's mandate was initially three years.[15] However, there is no fixed timeline for the judicial work to be completed.[16] The mandate has subsequently been extended to allow the Tribunal to complete its work.[17]
The verdict was eventually issued on 18 August 2020,[18] which was originally set on 7 August, but postponed following the 2020 Beirut explosion.[19]
History[edit]
In March 2006, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1664, the Security Council requested the Secretary-General consult with the Lebanese government on the establishment of an international tribunal to try those responsible for the 14 February 2005 attack.[20] The Lebanese government and United Nations signed an agreement for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on 23 January 2007 and 6 February 2007 respectively.[21] However, the Lebanese Prime Minister wrote to the UN Secretary-General in May 2007 stating that the Speaker refused to convene Parliament, and therefore the agreement could not be ratified, despite the support of a majority of parliamentarians.[22]
Due to this political impasse, the Security Council implemented the agreement through United Nations Security Council Resolution 1757 on 30 May 2007, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.[23] According to the resolution, the agreement (attached as an annexe) would enter into force on 10 June 2007, unless Lebanon informed the United Nations that it complied with the legal requirements for its entry into force before that date.[24] The political stalemate did not resolve itself, and the Agreement therefore came into force on 10 June 2007.[25]
Following its legal establishment, the Secretary-General of the United Nations announced on 17 August 2007 that the Netherlands had agreed to host the Tribunal.[26] The UN and the Netherlands signed a headquarters agreement to formalize the agreement on 21 December 2007.[27]
The Tribunal opened its doors on 1 March 2009,[28] taking over jurisdiction from the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC), whose mandate ended on 28 February 2009.[29]
Jurisdiction[edit]
The Tribunal was established to "try all those who are found responsible for the [February 14th, 2005] terrorist crime which killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and others."[1] Its jurisdiction could be extended beyond that event to other attacks in Lebanon between 1 October 2004 and 12 December 2005, if there was sufficient evidence showing they were connected and of a similar nature and gravity to the 14 February attack.[30][31] Human Rights Watch had argued that the tribunal should have been given jurisdiction over 14 other attacks perpetrated in Lebanon since 1 October 2004.[32] The Tribunal is the first of the UN-based international criminal court to try a terrorist crime committed against a specific person.[33]
Mandate[edit]
The Tribunal's mandate was initially set for three years,[34] but has been extended by the UN Secretary-General (in consultation with the Government of Lebanon and the Security Council) to allow the Tribunal to complete its work.[35] Most recently, in 2015, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "reaffirmed the commitment of the UN to support the work of the Tribunal to bring those responsible to justice and to ensure that impunity for such major crimes will not be tolerated," and extended the Tribunal's mandate until 2018.[36] The mandate may be further extended if cases are still ongoing.[37]
Applicable law[edit]
The Tribunal applies Lebanese criminal law,[38] with judges guided by both the Lebanese Code of Criminal Procedure and other materials reflecting the highest standards of international criminal procedure.[39]
Accordingly, it also is similar to Section I for War Crimes and Section II for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Criminal and Appellate Divisions of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina which has such "hybrid" chambers,[40] as well as to the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
Venue[edit]
Leidschendam, Netherlands[edit]
For reasons of security, administrative efficiency and fairness,[110] the Tribunal has its seat outside Lebanon, in Leidschendam, on the outskirts of The Hague, the Netherlands. The premises of the Tribunal are the former headquarters of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, or AIVD).[111]
The STL courtroom served as a courtroom for the Charles Taylor trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone[112] from 2010 to 2012.[113]
Controversies[edit]
Mass Resignations[edit]
Robin Vincent resigned as the SLT Registrar[68] in 2009 for what he described as the tribunal "not meeting the highest international standards in the field of criminal justice".[196] The appointment David Tolbert in July 2009 as his replacement did not provide any stability however, as the STL saw a rash of key resignations take place, including prosecution Spokesperson Radiya Ashouri, her successor, Henrietta Aswad, Judge Howard Morrison, Chief Investigator Naguib Kaldas,[197] Assistant Chief Prosecutor, Bernard Cote, Chief of Public Affairs, Peter Wickwire Foster, Registry spokesperson Suzann Khan, her successor Dr. Fatima el Issawi and, just eight months after his appointment, Tolbert[198] himself, leaving the credibility of the tribunal an open question before the first trial had even begun.[199]
Alleged Syrian involvement[edit]
The UN investigation into the assassination and the subsequent establishment of the STL provoked controversy and tension in Lebanon between different political groups, particularly the anti-Syrian March 14 Alliance and the pro-Syrian March 8 Alliance. Allegations of Syrian involvement in the attack[200] and the indictment of Hezbollah members[201] angered pro-Syria factions in Lebanon at the time.
Given the context in which the assassination of Hariri occurred (including reported threats to Hariri by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in their last meeting and the attempted assassination of Lebanese politician Marwan Hamadeh, who had resisted Syrian demands, the previous October), Syrian involvement was immediately suspected.[200]
In the hours following the blast, individuals with strong ties to the Syrian government attempted to guide the Lebanese investigation toward a 22-year-old man of Palestinian origin named Ahmed Abu Addas.[202] That theory was quickly discredited.[200][202]
On 30 August 2005, four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals (some of whom had promoted the false Abu Addas theory[203]) were subsequently arrested under suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.[204] They were detained without charge by Lebanese authorities for four years and released by the STL when it took over the investigation in 2009.[205] Mustafa Hamdan, former head of the Lebanese Presidential Guard brigade; Jamil al Sayyed, former Director-General of Security General; Ali al Hajj, director general of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces; and Raymond Azar, the former director of the Military Intelligence were released upon an order from the STL Pre-Trial Judge at the request of the Prosecutor due to lack of evidence.[206] In making the request, the Prosecutor had considered "inconsistencies in the statements of key witnesses and of a lack of corroborative evidence to support these statements".[207]
In September 2010, Saad Hariri told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that "[a]t a certain stage we made mistakes and accused Syria of assassinating the martyred premier. This was a political accusation, and this political accusation has finished."[208] He added that "[t]he tribunal is not linked to the political accusations, which were hasty... The tribunal will only look at evidence".[208]
According to Al-Manar, a Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese television station, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Syria had been vindicated as most Lebanese did not believe Syria was responsible anymore since they had been misled.[209] Within Lebanon, however, many Lebanese believe that Assad had Hariri killed because the latter demanded freedom from Syrian interference and occupation.[210]
False witnesses[edit]
"False witnesses" refer to witnesses who gave statements to UNIIIC investigators that were inconsistent and not corroborated by evidence.[211] Critics consider that the "false witnesses" damaged the credibility of the STL, while Tribunal supporters believe the witnesses may have been planted to discredit the investigation.[211]
Two "false witnesses," Mohammad Zuheir Siddiq and Husam Taher Husam, identified themselves as former Syrian intelligence officers and alleged top-level Syrian involvement in the killing of Hariri.[212] Siddiq further accused Hezbollah personnel of "logistical involvement" in the murder.[213][214]
In 2009, the STL Prosecution declared that the so-called false witnesses were no longer of interest to the Tribunal.[212] Siddiq subsequently went into hiding in Europe.[215]
The false witnesses issue sparked fierce political debate in Lebanon, with virtually all political leaders weighing in.[216][217][218][219][220][221][222][223] Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, accused the STL and the UN of protecting the false witnesses[224] and called for Siddiq to be arrested.[225] The Lebanese government appointed Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar to study the issue.[226]
However, there were some prominent witnesses who testified on the political situation in Lebanon preceding Hariri's assassination, including: Marwan Hamade, Walid Jumblatt, Fouad Siniora and Jamil al Sayyed.[227]
Verdict[edit]
On 18 August 2020, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon concluded that there was no evidence that the leadership of Hezbollah or Syria were involved in the assassination of Rafic Hariri. One of the four Hezbollah suspects, Salim Ayyash, was found guilty on the basis of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, but he is unlikely to serve any prison time since Hezbollah has vowed never to hand over any suspects.[102] However, three other defendants were acquitted due to insufficient evidence.[293]
In addition, the tribunal could not figure out who was the suicide bomber whose body parts were recovered from the scene,[102] nor the people who facilitated the operation; however, they indicated that Hezbollah members were observing the target, based on data from mobile phones allegedly used by the plotters.[294][a]
On 11 December 2020, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon sentenced Salim Ayyash, to five concurrent terms of life in prison in absentia for his role in the assassination of Rafic Hariri.[295]
On 16 June 2022, Habib Merhi and Hussein Oneissi were also sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia, despite an appeal made earlier in March that year.[296]