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The court in charge of prosecuting the former prime minister of Lebanon may be closed due to a lack of funding.
Lebanon has asked the UN Secretary-General in a letter to urgently consider ways to finance the Special Court for Lebanon (STL), which is responsible for investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri due to funding difficulties.
“The Lebanese Government would appreciate your excellence in urgently examining the various and alternative means of funding the Court with the Security Council and the Member States,” the country’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Friday.
An exclusive Reuters news agency report last week revealed that a UN tribunal, created by a 2007 UN Security Council ruling, had run out of funding in the midst of Lebanon’s economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials.
The court, which is funded by voluntary contributions of 51 per cent and the Lebanese government with 49 per cent, could be closed from July if the funding shortage is not resolved.
A court based in The Hague last year convicted former Shiite movement member Salim Jamil Ayyash of Hezbollah in absentia for killing a veteran Sunni Muslim politician Hariri and killing 21 others. This judgment is being appealed.
The second case was due to begin on June 16, with Ayyash being prosecuted in 2004 and 2005 for another attack and other attacks on Lebanese politicians.
On Thursday, however, the trial court adjourned the new trial due to the hope of closure.
Lebanon is in the midst of a deep financial crisis that is threatening its stability.
The crisis that erupted in late 2019 has wiped out employment, put more than half of the population below the poverty line and eroded about 90% of the value of the currency.
Rafik Hariri’s son, Saad Hariri, is now appointed prime minister of Lebanon, but cannot agree on a cabinet with President Michel Aoun, leaving the country in a state of political paralysis since last year.
“While we reaffirm our firm commitment to STL, we strongly believe that these economic difficulties should not hinder its work to the end,” Diabe said.
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