U.S., France, Britain, Russia Warn: No Meddling in Hariri Tribunal
The United States, Britain, France and Russia warned against meddling in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The remarks came during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday on the Israel-Palestinian crisis.
Syrian President Bashar Assad is believed to have raised his concerns about the STL with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on Sunday.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Brooke Anderson told the 15-member Security Council that Washington fully supported U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's determination to press ahead with the tribunal, despite fears of violence.
"Efforts to discredit, hinder or delay the tribunal's work should not be tolerated, and those who engage in them do not have the interests of Lebanon or justice at heart," Anderson told the Council.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant echoed Anderson's remarks.
"We are concerned about increasing rhetoric aimed at undermining the special tribunal for Lebanon," he said. "This tribunal should be allowed to continue its work unimpeded."
French Ambassador Gerard Araud also made similar comments.
Paris was "concerned by the present tensions, in particular with respect to the special tribunal for Lebanon," he said.
Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin, for his part, said there should be "no politicization" of the tribunal's work.
Hizbullah has condemned the International Tribunal as a tool of Israeli and U.S. policy.
Hizbullah urged Prime Minister Saad Hariri to reject the tribunal, set to prosecute his father's killers.
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