Hobeish to Raad: We Don't Know if Indictments are Based on Telecoms Evidence
Mustaqbal MPs Samir Jisr and Hadi Hobeish on Thursday held a joint press conference in response to remarks by head of Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
"We have no idea whether the indictments are based on telecommunications evidence," Hobeish told Raad.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had said he is confident the indictments will be based on telecommunications evidence linking Hizbullah to the 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
But he said Israel, whom he blames for Hariri's assassination, has infiltrated Lebanon's mobile telecommunications network and can manipulate phone calls.
"You are heading toward indictments based on so-called telecommunications evidence. This is not evidence. Such evidence has absolutely no value," Nasrallah had said, addressing STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare.
Turning to Nasrallah regarding leaks from Gerhard Lehmann, Hobeish said: "Yes, this is how documents are leaked in the West. But isn't the leaker contacted?
"Who pays these huge amounts of cash in exchange for leaked documents and what are the motives?" he asked.
Hobeish stressed that the STL is independent.
"Such courts develop their own rules since they are independent. The international tribunal is totally independent of the U.N. Security Council.
On the false witnesses' issue, Hobeish believed that the "non-disclosure of a witness is a temporary measure taken by the court."
Hobeish accused Raad of "trying to give the impression that Bellemare's office sought to find a legal Fatwa to stop pursuing the false witnesses' issue."
Regarding media reports, including a May 2008 report by Germany's Der Spiegel magazine that the STL will indict Hizbullah members, Hobeish asked: "Should we hold the international investigation responsible for the media reports which we are not sure how accurate they are?
Jisr, for his part, defended the legitimacy of the STL.
"Hajj Raad had said the Tribunal was adopted by an illegitimate Cabinet. It would have been useful at the time to seek a confidence vote in Parliament to see whether the government was legitimate or not," Jisr said.
"The STL was unanimously adopted at the dialogue table and was not an issue of discussion even after May 7 and Doha agreement," he recalled.
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