THE HAGUE: A UN tribunal set up to prosecute those behind Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination has run out of funding amid Lebanon’s economic and political crisis.
The country’s crisis is threatening plans for future trials, people involved in the process said.
Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder and other attacks, but also those demanding that a UN tribunal bring to justice those responsible for the Beirut port blast last August that killed 200 and injured 6,500.
Last year the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon, located outside of The Hague, convicted former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others.
Ayyash was sentenced in absentia to five life terms in prison, while three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence... Both sides have appealed.
The court had been scheduled to start a second trial on June 16 against Ayyash, who is accused of another assassination and attacks against Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005 in the run-up to the Hariri bombing.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said he was aware of the court’s financial problems.
“The Secretary-General continues to urge member states and the international community for voluntary contributions in order to secure the funds required to support the independent judicial proceedings that remain before the tribunal,” UN Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
The funding shortfall comes as Lebanon faces its worst turmoil since Hariri’s assassination. The country is deeply polarized between supporters of Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies and supporters of Hariri’s son, prime minister designate Saad Al-Hariri, who declined to comment.
“If you abort the tribunal, if you abort this case, you are giving a free gift to the perpetrators and to those who do not want justice to take place,” Nidal Jurdi, a lawyer for the victims in the second case, told Reuters.
Scrapping a new trial would not only harm victims who waited 17 years for the case to come to court, but would undermine accountability for crimes in Lebanon in general, Jurdi said, adding that a letter had been sent to the UN expressing concern.
It would be “a disappointment for the victims of the connected cases and the victims of Lebanon,” he said, appealing for international funding.
“Lebanon needs full accountability,” he said.
Created by a 2007 UN Security Council resolution and opened in 2009, the tribunal’s budget last year was 55 million euros ($67 million) with Lebanon footing 49 percent of the bill and foreign donors and the UN members making up the rest.
“The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is in a very concerning financial position,” court spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan told Reuters. “No decision has yet been taken on judicial proceedings and there are intense fundraising efforts going on to find a solution,” she added.
The UN extended the mandate of the tribunal from March 1, 2021, for two years or sooner if the remaining cases were completed or funding ran out.
Guterres warned in February that due to the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government’s contribution was uncertain and warned the court may not be able to continue its work after the first quarter of 2021.
The 2021 budget had been trimmed by nearly 40 percent, forcing job cuts at the court, but the Lebanese government has still been unable to pay its share, according to UN documents.
Guterres requested an appropriation of about $25 million from the UN General Assembly for 2021. The General Assembly approved $15.5 million in March.
UN tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut’s crisis spills over
https://arab.news/2uc9m
UN tribunal for Lebanon runs out of funds as Beirut’s crisis spills over
- Closing the tribunal would dash the hopes of families of victims in the Hariri murder
- A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General said Tuesday he was aware of the court's financial problems
Israel PM calls security chief ‘liar’, in court filing
Netanyahu’s response came almost a week after Shin Bet head Ronen Bar himself made a sworn statement to the court. It accused the prime minister of demanding personal loyalty and ordering him to spy on anti-government protesters.
Bar’s dismissal, announced by the government last month but frozen by the country’s top court, triggered mass protests.
The unprecedented move to fire the head of the Shin Bet security agency has been contested by the attorney general and the opposition, which appealed Bar’s firing to the Supreme Court.
“The accusation according to which I allegedly demanded action against innocent civilians, or against a non-violent and legitimate protest during the protests of 2023, is an absolute lie,” Netanyahu said in his court statement.
In his own affidavit, Bar had said “it was clear” that in the event of a potential constitutional crisis, Netanyahu would expect Bar to obey the prime minister and not the courts.
Netanyahu countered: “There is no proof supporting these remarks.”
Bar had also denied accusations by Netanyahu and his associates that the Shin Bet had failed to warn in time about Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
“Nothing was hidden” on that night from the security apparatus or the prime minister, Bar said.
Netanyahu countered before the court that Bar “did not accomplish his mission” that night.
“He did not wake up the prime minister. He did not wake up the minister of defense. He did not wake up the soldiers of the army,” or others before the attack, Netanyahu alleged.
The prime minister’s 23-page document said Bar “failed in his role as chief of Shin Bet and lost the confidence of the entire Israeli government as far as his ability to continue to manage the organization.”
Netanyahu’s office had already made similar public comments immediately after Bar filed his affidavit.
An April 8 Supreme Court hearing on the government’s plans to fire Bar ruled that he “will continue to perform his duties until a later decision.”
Syria rejects Kurds’ call for decentralization
- The new authorities in Syria, who replaced the overthrown Bashar Assad in December, have repeatedly rejected the idea of Kurdish autonomy
- Most of Syria’s oil and gas fields are in areas administered by the Kurdish authorities
DAMASCUS: The Syrian presidency rejected on Sunday a Kurdish call for a decentralized state, warning against attempts at separatism or federalism by the minority group.
“We reject clearly any attempt to impose a separatist reality or to create separate entities under the cover of federalism... without a national consensus,” the presidency said in a statement in which it also condemned “the recent activities and declarations” of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that “call for federalism.”
“The unity of Syria, of its territories and its people is a red line,” the statement said.
The declaration came a day after a conference of Syrian Kurdish parties adopted a joint vision of a “decentralized democratic state.”
The new authorities in Syria, who replaced the overthrown Bashar Assad in December, have repeatedly rejected the idea of Kurdish autonomy.
The US-backed Kurds control large areas of northeastern Syria, much of which they took over in the process of defeating jihadists of the Daesh group between 2015 and 2019.
They have enjoyed de facto autonomy since early in the civil war which broke out in 2011, but the new authorities have insisted on a unitary state.
In March, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, and the SDF chief Mazloum Abdi, signed an agreement to integrate Kurdish institutions into the Syrian state.
Abdi told the conference on Saturday that “my message to all Syrian constituents and the Damascus government is that the conference does not aim, as some say, at division.”
Instead it aimed “for the unity of Syria,” he insisted.
“We support all Syrian components receiving their rights in the constitution to be able to build a decentralized democratic Syria that embraces everyone,” Abdi said.
Most of Syria’s oil and gas fields are in areas administered by the Kurdish authorities. These may prove a crucial resource for Syria’s new authorities as they seek to rebuild the war-devastated country.
Iran’s president visits site of port blast that killed 28
- The explosion ripped through the port as Iranian and US delegations were meeting in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear program
- While Iranian authorities appear to be treating the blast as an accident, it also comes against the backdrop of years of shadow war with Israel
TEHRAN: Iran’s president visited on Sunday the scene of a massive port blast that killed 28 people and injured more than 1,000, as fires still blazed more than 24 hours after the explosion.
The blast occurred on Saturday at Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes.
With choking smoke and air pollution spreading throughout the area, all schools and offices in Bandar Abbas, the nearby capital of Hormozgan province, were ordered closed on Sunday to allow authorities to focus on the emergency effort, state TV said.
The health ministry urged residents to avoid going outside “until further notice” and to use protective masks.
Arriving in Bandar Abbas, President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed his appreciation to first responders, adding “we have come to see first-hand if there is anything or any issue that the government can follow up on.”
“We will try to take care of the families who lost their loved ones, and we will definitely take care of the dear people who got injured,” he said.
Pezeshkian had previously ordered an investigation into the cause of the blast.
Russia’s embassy said Moscow was sending multiple “aircraft carrying specialists” to help fight the blaze. According to Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, one of the aircraft is a dedicated firefighting plane.
The New York Times quoted a person with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, as saying that what exploded was sodium perchlorate — a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.
Defense ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik later told state TV that “there has been no imported or exported cargo for military fuel or military use in the area.”
The port’s customs office said in a statement carried by state television that the explosion probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot.
A regional emergency official said several containers had exploded.
Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand, in a video shared on the government’s official website, gave an updated toll on Sunday of 28 people killed and more than 1,000 injured.
The ISNA news agency, citing the provincial judiciary, gave a higher toll of 1,242 injured and also put the number of dead at 28.
Koolivand said some of the injured were airlifted for treatment in the capital Tehran.
Thick black smoke was still visible in live footage from the scene aired by state TV on Sunday.
“The fire is under control but still not out,” a state TV correspondent reported from the scene.
The explosion was felt and heard about 50 kilometers away, Fars news agency reported.
Also at the scene on Sunday, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said “the situation has stabilized in the main areas” of the port, and workers had resumed loading containers and customs clearance.
Another official on site, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadegh, said only one zone of the port was impacted, and cargo “operations are still continuing as normal in the several other zones.”
An image from Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Sunday showed a helicopter flying through a sky blackened by smoke to drop water on the disaster-struck area.
Others showed firefighters working among toppled and blackened cargo containers, and carrying out the body of a victim.
The authorities have closed off the roads leading to the site, and footage from the area has been limited to Iranian media outlets.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement to AFP on Sunday that three Chinese victims were in a “stable” condition.
The United Arab Emirates expressed “solidarity with Iran” over the explosion and Saudi Arabia sent condolences, as did Pakistan, India, Turkiye and the United Nations as well as Russia.
The Tehran-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah also offered condolences, saying Iran, with its “faith and solid will, can overcome this tragic accident.”
In the first reaction from a major European country, the German embassy in Tehran said on Instagram: “Bandar Abbas we grieve with you.”
Authorities declared a day of national mourning on Monday, and three days of mourning in Hormozgan province from Sunday.
The explosion ripped through the port as Iranian and US delegations were meeting in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, with both sides reporting progress afterwards.
While Iranian authorities so far appear to be treating the blast as an accident, it also comes against the backdrop of years of shadow war with regional foe Israel.
According to the Washington Post, Israel in 2020 launched a cyberattack targeting the Shahid Rajaee Port.
Jordanian government spokesperson says country remains firmly supportive of Palestine
- Mohammad Momani affirms that Jordan backs self-determination of Palestinians
- Remarks made during seminar commemorating 105th anniversary of martyrdom of Kaid Al-Mefleh Obeidat
LONDON: Minister of Communication Mohammad Momani has said that Jordan’s commitment to “defending” Palestinian rights in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza “remains firm.”
Momani, who is also the spokesperson for the Jordanian government, said that the country supported the right of Palestinians to self-determination, and the establishment of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
His remarks were made on Saturday during a seminar commemorating the 105th anniversary of the martyrdom of Kaid Al-Mefleh Obeidat. He is remembered as a national hero after being the first Jordanian to lose his life in resisting Zionist groups during the British mandate in Palestine in 1920.
Momani said: “Supporting the Palestinian cause should not come at the expense of Jordan’s national stability but should be expressed through unity behind the Hashemite leadership, the Arab army, and the security agencies.”
He added that “Obeidat’s martyrdom … highlights Jordan’s long-standing sacrifices for Arab unity and freedom,” the Jordan News Agency reported.
Momani said that Jordan’s support resulted from its religious, moral, and humanitarian obligations and that a Palestinian state was vital to Jordan’s national interests, according to Petra.
He said that King Abdullah II and Crown Prince Hussein continued “to champion the Palestinian cause, maintaining Jordan as a bastion of steadfastness amid regional upheavals.”
Qatari emir, Turkish FM discuss Syria, Gaza in Doha
- Hakan Fidan meets Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani at Lusail Palace
LONDON: Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani received the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan at Lusail Palace in Doha on Sunday.
During the meeting, the two leaders discussed significant regional and international developments, especially those concerning Gaza, the Palestinian territories, and Syria.
Sheikh Tamim and Fidan reviewed strategic relations between Doha and Ankara, as well as ways to strengthen and develop ties, the Qatar News Agency reported.
