BEIRUT, 11 June 2007 — A controversial international court to try suspects in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri came into force yesterday, Justice Minister Charles Rizk said.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution on May 30 setting June 10 as the date on which a 2006 agreement between the United Nations and the Beirut government to establish the court is to enter into force. “UN Security Council Resolution 1757 concerning the establishment of an international tribunal to examine the assassination of Rafik Hariri came into force on Sunday,” Rizk said in a statement. Five members of the Security Council, including veto-wielding Russia and China, abstained from the May 30 vote, objecting to a decision that bypasses Lebanon’s constitutional process.
The UN ruling was also condemned by Hezbollah as illegal and as “an aggressive interference in (Lebanon’s) internal affairs.” Syria, Lebanon’s former power broker, was widely blamed for the Hariri killing but has denied all involvement.
Hariri, who was a leading opponent of Syrian domination of Lebanon, was killed along with 22 others in a massive bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government charges that the opposition is working at the behest of Damascus to block the court.
The June 10 date for the entry into force of the court was set under a so-called “sunrise clause” to give the rival Lebanese sides a final chance to break a deadlock over the tribunal. But in the absence of a domestic accord, Belgium’s UN Ambassador Johan Verbeke, who chairs the Security Council this month, said Friday: “The sunrise clause is being activated. This is an automatic clause so it (the court) will enter into force automatically as of June 10,” he told reporters.
Verbeke said the court is not scheduled to meet today. Diplomats and UN officials say the court will not be up and running for several months.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem warned last week that Damascus would not cooperate with the tribunal and deplored the speed with which the Security Council decided on the tribunal.
