Hizbullah Forms Committee to Study Amending STL Cooperation Protocol
Hizbullah has recently formed a committee of legal experts to carefully examine the cooperation protocol signed between Lebanon and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, opposition political sources told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published on Saturday.
The committee will then seek to introduce a number of amendments to this agreement, they revealed.
These amendments will include Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s observations over the tribunal that he discussed with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon during his U.S. trip, they continued.
The changes will be based on assertions that the tribunal is politicized and Hizbullah has reservations over its purposes because it believes it to be an American-Israeli product bent on destroying the party, added the sources.
They stressed that efforts are being made to ratify these amendments before the STL’s tenure is renewed for another year.
A legal source told al-Liwaa however that the extension of the STL’s term for another three years is not related to the tribunal’s protocol.
Only Ban has the authority to renew the tribunal’s functioning seeing as it was formed under chapter seven of the U.N. charter, it explained.
The March 8 camp’s belief that the cooperation protocol violates the Lebanese constitution does not alter the fact that the STL has become a reality, it stressed.
Meanwhile, March 8 ministerial sources told al-Liwaa that the government will be held accountable for whatever decision it takes regarding the STL.
They revealed that Miqati and Minister Mohammed Safadi will present the discussions they had with American officials over the STL before cabinet.
The premier and minister had traveled to New York City recently where Miqati chaired the United Nations Security Council.
The sources added that Miqati and Safadi will demand that a decision that does not jeopardize Lebanon’s economy be taken over the STL.
Parliamentary majority sources meanwhile told the newspaper that the case of the funding of the tribunal will be set aside for the moment.
OTV reported on Friday that a decision was made to prevent the funding of the tribunal through cabinet at all costs.
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