Hariri’s killing plunged Lebanon into a series of political
crises and assassinations that provoked clashes in May 2008, leading to fears
of a revival of sectarian tensions in a country still scarred by its 1975-1990
civil war.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set up to investigate
the Beirut bombing that killed Hariri.
In June it issued arrest warrants for four men, identified
by Lebanese officials as members of Hezbollah, a billionaire Sunni Muslim
politician and former prime minister. So far, they have not been arrested.
On Friday, pre-trial judge Danial Fransen ordered the
Lebanese authorities to hand over information about attacks and assassination
attempts on three other politicians — Marwan Hamadeh, George Hawi, and Elias
Al-Murr.
“The prosecutor had presented prima facie evidence that each
of the three cases are connected (to the Hariri killing), and are thus within
the tribunal’s jurisdiction,” the court said in a statement.
Hamadeh is a former telecoms minister who survived an
assassination attempt in 2004, while Al-Murr, a former deputy prime minister
and former defense minister, was wounded in a bombing in 2005.
Hawi, a former Communist Party chief and critic of Syria,
was killed by a bomb in his car in Beirut in 2005.
Tribunal president Antonio Cassese on Thursday urged Beirut
to intensify its efforts to arrest the four men wanted for Hariri’s
assassination.
Cassese said Lebanon, which reported back to the court
earlier this month about its efforts to track down the suspects, has a “continuing
obligation” to arrest and transfer them to the Hague-based court to stand trial.
The report said the Lebanese authorities had carried out
surveillance, interviewed alleged associates of the suspects, visited places
where they are said to have connections and met municipality officials.
Hezbollah has denied any role in the huge explosion in
Beirut which killed Hariri and 21 others in February 2005.
Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has dismissed the
indictments as a failed attempt to sow strife and bring down Lebanon’s new
Hezbollah-backed government, and has said the authorities would never arrest
members of the group.
The tribunal has jurisdiction over attacks that took place
in Lebanon between Oct. 1, 2004 and Dec. 12, 2005, but only if the pre-trial
judge sees a connection to the Hariri attack.