Open Hearing Set for Oct. 1 to Appeal Decision on Jurisdiction and Legality of STL

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

The Appeals Chamber has scheduled an open hearing on 1 October at 9:15 a.m. to hear the appeal against the decision on the jurisdiction and the legality of the Tribunal, announced the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a press release on Friday.

The Trial Chamber dismissed on July 27 the four Defense motions challenging the jurisdiction and legality of the Tribunal.

The counsel for three of the accused (Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine and Hussein Oneissi) appealed against this decision on August 24, 2012.

As part of his duties to ensure that the proceedings are not unduly delayed, Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has scheduled a Status Conference on September 28 at 10:00 a.m.

The Status Conference will be public, however the judge might decide to go into closed session during the course of the hearing if confidential matters need to be discussed.

The last Status Conference took place on July 26 2012.

Four Hizbullah members, Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra are wanted for the February 2005 suicide car bomb attack in Beirut that killed former Premier Rafik Hariri and 22 others, including the suicide bomber.

The court on August 17 unsealed the indictment against the four suspects and has said Lebanon must try harder to apprehend them.

The Lebanese authorities have failed to arrest them.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said he doubted the four indictees will ever be found and has branded the tribunal a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy aimed at bringing down the party.

Ayyash and Badreddine face five charges including that of "committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device" and homicide, while Oneissi and Sabra faced charges of conspiring to commit the same acts.

Comments 4
Default-user-icon omar B (Guest) 21 September 2012, 20:35

On 13 february,2005 The night before The assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harri at 8 or 8:30 pm; I decided to go for a walk on the "Cornich" sea front. The initial walking took about 45 minutes which took place from the Saint George Marina all the way to the Military Beach Club (Hamem ElAskari). At the start I saw a man walking sideways on the Cornichat at a slow pace.On my way back from the walk and it was a bit darker, I am sure that there was a building or some kind of an underground construction site at the side of the road. In fact two men distracted me and asked me not to walk on the pavement close to a Car Dealer company. I pulled my arm away from his grasp and when I insisted to go on my way he told the other guy in Lebanese dialect "ok let him walk wherever he pleases it is his risk and his life". I could not understand what was going on at the time. "to be continued..."

Default-user-icon omar B (Guest) 21 September 2012, 20:37

"...continued"

I continued walking on the street asphalt. Reaching the west side marina of the Saint George building, I saw a docking yacht which instantly caught my attention due to the fact that it was fully lit up with small light bulbs. The yacht's slender body was big in size the bottom section was made of dark Mahogany wood and the upper section was white in color. The top deck was full of radars and satellite electronic devices, some looked like Television broadcasting and receivers equipment which were over 30 or more in number and of various sizes. I stood there for about a minute and noticed that there was one guard sitting sideways in a booth facing the yacht. As soon as the guard noticed me I resumed walking passed the Saint George Hotel building. "...to be continued"

Default-user-icon omar B (Guest) 21 September 2012, 20:40

"continued" At a distance, I noticed a man standing still looking my direction and realized he was the same guy I have seen earlier at the very beginning. I was walking in his direction and he continued to stare. His eyes looked passed me at the direction where I was standing watching the Yacht. Now I was few centimeters away from him, face to face. He stood motionless and kept looking at me in silence.

"to be continued"

Default-user-icon Omar B (Guest) 21 September 2012, 20:42

"continued"

He was in his mid Fourties with short hair, hazel eyes, his complexion was Western. My guess is he is either German, French or American and had a round head. His facial features did not look Arabic especially the grey blond hair the color of his skin and the shape of his eyes. Well, I can only say the man looked European. He was about 170 meters tall. I noticed his hands were hidden in his pockets. He was wearing a Jillet dark brown in color with brown pants and light Brown English made leather shoes with shoe laces.
In English, I asked him twice to let me pass since he was blocking my way. At that point I was a bit agitated and suspicious while looking at his rigid stoic face. Finally he let me go on my way and I never looked back. All I know is that a woman was walking behind the guy and was pushing a baby stroller which consisted of two baby seats.

That is all, Thanks.

May God be my witness.