On 2. February 2012 the UN Tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri announced that it would go ahead and try four men, accused of “terrorism” and the murder of Rafiq Hariri in absentia. (1)
Knowing the track record of UN Tribunals, most noteworthy the Lockerbie trial, that resulted in the sentencing and incarceration of an innocent Abdelbast Al-Megrahi, (2) and the death under “questionable circumstances” of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic, the four accused are most certainly best served by not appearing at the court.
The Hariri case has been riddled by inconsistencies and scandals, and is widely perceived as yet another UN Show Trial, this time directed against Syria and Syrian Influence in the region. The courts decision on 2 February to go ahead with the trial, trying the four accused in absentia is thus widely perceived as part of the ongoing covert military and propaganda war that is directed against Syria, and demonstrates yet again that the United Nations has lost credibility as representative of an “international community”.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has indicted Mustafa Amine Badreddine, who allegedly was the overall controller of the attack, Salim Jamil Ayyash, allegedly the coordinator of the assassination team, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra, who allegedly prepared and delivered the false claim of responsibility video. All four are also accused of belonging to overlapping teams within Hezbollah and Syrian Intelligence Services.
The very fact that the case is going forward at all is highly questionable. According to the words of the Special Prosecutor for the Hariri Case, Daniel Belmare, “the case is build in large part on circumstantial evidence”. The use of highly questionable, circumstantial, or fabricated evidence is nothing new for observers of the Haag, but is in deed a highly effective means of propaganda, in this case directed against a Syria which is under relentless attack by NATO and Allied Countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
As already mentioned in a previous nsnbc article by the same author, (3) a covertly recorded audio tape where the son of Rafiq Hariri, Saad Hariri is taking part in fabricating evidence, would have blown the case wide open, has corporate Western Media not been complicit in neglecting it while concentrating on positioning Syria as “the problem” in Lebanon.
Saad Hariri is currently implicated in financing and arming insurgents in Syria, and the question if a credible UN and ICC would not rather prosecute the “terrorism” that is committed by Saad Hariri against Syria, than prosecuting a highly questionable case based on mainly circumstantial evidence, with the political motivation to justify a war on a UN Member State.
To counter this biased media coverage, nsnbc is publishing the audio tape and the translation from Arabic into English again.
[1:25] Hariri: (addressing Siddiq) Neither I nor you, nor Murad, nor Gerald, nor Andy, nor anyone in Lebanon or Syria doubts that they did it.
Siddiq: No one doubts?
Hariri: …That they did it. Now, we’re working with countries — Arab countries. If you can’t bring them clear evidence that the Syrian regime using X, Y, and Z, with evidence A, B, and C was involved, then we have a problem.
Siddiq: … If you want to speak like this, then you need to begin to respond to them with [??] That’s the first thing, in respect to the Arab countries, apart from the foreign [i.e. non-Arab] countries.
(The tape cut off abruptly)
[2:30] Siddiq: I take responsibility for what I’m saying, Wissam. Because there’s going to be a confrontation, and I’m going to confront people myself.
[2:40] Siddiq: I don’t want to say something, for him to ask me: “When is that going to happen?”
Hariri: When are you going to bring 1, 2, 3?
Siddiq: Those who are carrying out the explosions in Lebanon: I get them.I get them all. That’s my job. That’s what I do. I’m the one who gets them.
*
[2:57] Siddiq: The telephone call in which I told you that they would send 20 people. The telephone call in which I told you that the explosions would begin. Didn’t it happen? You’re seeing it. I called you the night before last, do you remember? Did you see the call?
(pause)
Siddiq: I called you the night before last.
Hariri: Mmm.
Siddiq: You didn’t answer. I called a second time and you didn’t answer. I said maybe he went to sleep and he’ll call me in the morning. [I was calling] to tell you that there was a bomb going to the LBC. It ended up being for May [Chidiac]. May was lost.
(Note that Siddiq did not actually communicate this to Hariri prior to the bombing. He’s claiming to have had advance knowledge but he didn’t actually warn Hariri ahead of time, because he allegedly couldn’t reach him on the phone.)
Hariri: Usually, when you want to speak to me you send me an SMS.
Siddiq: At a time of urgency?! An SMS?! …
(Discussion of Nabih Berri’s visit to Spain and then Syria to meet with Bashar al-Assad and Hassan Nasrallah)
*
[4:27] Siddiq: Go confirm this information.
Hassan: Zuhair, let’s go back to the scene of the crime.
Siddiq: The scene of the crime, ya habibi, I’m going to tell you about it. What I want to tell you is this: if the report is going to come out without any confusion whatsoever, it needs to have the names of nine people: four Lebanese and nine Syrians. That’s what the report should say. Nine Syrians and four Lebanese.
*
[4:51] Siddiq: Tell him [i.e. Lehmann] something for me. Tell him that Zuhair will not let you become a spectacle [nazra?] in front of the world, no. Tell him that I have the truth and that all of it will come out, God permitting…
More information about the Hariri Audio can be found by following the this link: “LINK”
In the light of the ongoing covert war on Syria, the prospect of Hamas cooperating with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey against Syria, and a Hezbollah that is currently in an extremely difficult situation with respect to it´s allegiances to Syria and Iran, (4) the Hariri case deserves the fullest attention of international media and observers, and could have significant consequences for the medium to longer term internal stability of Lebanon.
Christof Lehmann
04.02.2012
1) http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41113&Cr=lebanon&Cr1=
2) Lockerbie Libya Syria, Who to Frame Next. Christof Lehmann, nsnbc. https://nsnbc.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/lockerbie-libya-syria-who-to-frame-next/
3) Hariri Implicated in Arming and Financing NATO Insurgents in Syria. Christof Lehmann, nsnbc. https://nsnbc.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/hariri-implicated-in-arming-nato-insurgency-in-syria/
4) Was the Gaza Flotilla massacre a Turkish-Israeli false Flag and a Precursor to the War on Syria ? Martin Iqbal. Empirestrikesblack. http://empirestrikesblack.com/2012/02/was-the-gaza-flotilla-massacre-a-turkish-israeli-false-flag-and-precursor-to-the-war-on-syria/
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