Hariri Hails Ban’s Extension of STL Mandate, Appointment of New Prosecutor

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri thanked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon for extending the mandate of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the appointment of a new prosecutor.

Hariri telephoned Ban hailing his decisions, according to a statement issued by his press office.

Conflicting reports have emerged in local media on whether the U.N. secretary general had appointed a new prosecutor to replace Daniel Bellemare.

Premier Najib Miqati’s office denied on Monday receiving any official information on the appointment of Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia Norman Farrell as STL Prosecutor.

Bellemare will leave his post in March for health reasons; he refused to seek reappointment for a second term as prosecutor at the end of his tenure in February.

The denial came after al-Arabiya reported that Farrell will most likely be Bellemare’s successor after Ban allegedly informed Miqati about his choice.

On February 22, the U.N. extended the mandate of the special tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri.

The work of the tribunal has now been extended for three years from March 1, announced U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.

According to the statement, Hariri also discussed the situation in Syria with Ban.

Hariri praised the appointment of former U.N. leader Kofi Annan as a joint U.N.-Arab League envoy for Syria.

He urged Ban to exert efforts to “ease the suffering of the Syrian people and support their struggle for freedom and democracy.”