BEIRUT – Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said the authorities would never arrest members of the Shia militant group indicted by a UN-backed tribunal seeking the killers of statesman Rafik al-Hariri.
In his first comments since the indictments were handed to the state prosecutor on Thursday, Mr Nasrallah dismissed the accusations as unfounded and a failed attempt to sow strife and bring down Lebanon’s new Hizbullah-backed government.
The tribunal has not named the suspects but Lebanese officials said they included Mustafa Badreddine, a senior member of the movement and brother-in-law of slain Hizbullah commander Imad Moughniyeh, and three other members of the group.
“They cannot find them or arrest them in 30 days or 60 days, or in a year, two years, 30 years or 300 years,” Mr Nasrallah said. Under the court proceedings, Lebanese officials have 30 days to make arrests after receiving indictments.
Hizbullah, both a Shia Muslim political movement and guerrilla army, denies any role in the huge explosion on the Beirut seafront which killed Mr Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who served several terms as prime minister, and 22 others in February 2005.
The killing plunged Lebanon into a series of political crises and assassinations that led to clashes in May 2008, and there were fears that the indictments could revive sectarian tension in a country still scarred by its 1975-90 civil war.
“We reject the baseless accusations and rulings and consider them an aggression against us,” Mr Nasrallah said in a televised address. “We will not allow them to weaken us . . . and we will not let them drag Lebanon towards strife or civil war.”
Mr Nasrallah has repeatedly accused the tribunal of serving a political agenda to undermine Hizbullah.
He displayed documents purporting to show that when the tribunal was transferring equipment from Lebanon to the court’s base in the Netherlands in 2009, it sent a consignment of 97 computers via Israel rather than ship them directly from Beirut.
He also portrayed the head of the court, Antonio Cassese, as a friend of Israel who is hostile to Hizbullah. – (Reuters)