SARA GHASEMILEE, Al Arabiya with Agencies
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday ruled out the arrest of four members of his militant
group indicted by a UN court for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafik Hariri. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), on Thursday handed Lebanon’s prosecutor general Said Mirza arrest warrants for four members of the Iranian- and Syrian-backed group in connection with the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Mr. Hariri and 22 others in Beirut. In his first reaction to the charges by the STL, Secretary General Nasrallah also rejected “each and every void accusation” made by the Netherlands-based court, which he said was heading for a trial in absentia.
“We reject the Special Tribunal for Lebanon along with each and every void accusation it issues, which to us is equivalent to an attack on Hezbollah,” Mr. Nasrallah said in an hour-long televised speech.
Mr. Nasrallah said authorities would not be able to arrest the suspects named in the indictments. Under the court proceedings, Lebanese authorities have 30 days to arrest suspects, but Mr. Nasrallah has warned in the past that his group will “cut the hand” of anyone who seeks to detain its members.
“No Lebanese government will be able to carry out any arrests whether in 30 days, 30 years or even 300 years,” said the Shiite leader whose group dominates the current government.
“What will happen is a trial in absentia, a trial in which the verdict has already been reached,” he said.
He also said the court aimed to spread sectarian strife in Lebanon, but that it would fail to inflame conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
The assassination of Mr. Hariri plunged Lebanon into a series of political crises, killings and bombings that led to sectarian clashes in May 2008, dragging the country back to the brink of civil war.
The tribunal has not named the suspects publicly, but Lebanese officials said they included Mustafa Badreddine, a senior member of the movement and brother-in-law of slain Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyeh
The whereabouts of the four Hezbollah members remain unknown.
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