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Hariri Slams Hizbullah over Time Interview

Former Prime Miniser Saad Hariri slammed Hizbullah and the cabinet over the TIME magazine interview with one of the four suspects named in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indictment.

Hariri’s press office issued a statement on Saturday saying that “Hizbullah considers that the State, its institutions, its government and its security and judiciary forces are only tools to protect Hizbullah… and to cover up their violations and abuses against Lebanon and the Lebanese.”

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STL Assigns Lawyers to Defend Four Suspects

Head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Defense office Francois Roux will task a lawyers for each suspect named in the indictment to examine the charges against them, the Central News Agency reported on Saturday.

“Each lawyer will head a team to build a case to defend the suspects and examine the indictment and the charges formed against them,” informed sources told the news agency.

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Geagea Calls for Cabinet Action, Questions Hizbullah Leadership Role in Hariri Murder

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized the March 8 forces on Saturday for discrediting the case against four Hizbullah members in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and hinted that the suspects had acted under orders from the party leadership.

The evidence provided by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon prosecutor in the indictment draws question marks on the role of Hizbullah, Syria and Iran in Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, Geagea said at a press conference he held in Maarab.

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Miqati Tasks Qortbawi with Following up TIME Interview with Hariri Murder Suspect

Premier Najib Miqati has “no comment” on a TIME magazine interview with one of the four suspects named in the international tribunal indictment, his sources told An Nahar daily published Saturday.

But Miqati tasked Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi with following up the issue in accordance with appropriate legal measures.

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Woman in Labor Killed in Road Crash

A woman was killed in a car crash in Nabatiyeh as she was heading to hospital to give birth, the state-run National News Agency reported Saturday.

It said Fatima Afif Noureddine, 32, died after the Toyota that her husband Staff Sergeant Wissam Rida Farhat was driving crashed into an electricity pole on the Hboush-Nabatiyeh road after midnight.

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Hizbullah to Counter Indictment by Issuing its Own Report

Hizbullah has tasked a technical team with drafting a report that challenges the international tribunal’s indictment and the circumstantial evidence of telecommunications data that implicated four of the party’s members in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder, a Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP said.

The lawmaker told As Safir daily published Saturday that Hizbullah would hold a press conference after drafting the report to present its findings to the public opinion and unveil new facts about Israeli manipulation of telecom data.

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Saniora from Doha: The STL Provides Guarantees to the Suspects

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader Fouad Saniora has stressed that the suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder have guarantees and they are still suspects.

In remarks to pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in Doha, Saniora said: “From the start we said we want justice and don’t mean by it any type of revenge because in the past three decades Lebanon has lost two presidents, three prime ministers and several ministers and intellectuals.”

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Mirza Has No Info on Deferral Orders, Denies he Knows Whereabouts of Hariri Murder Suspects

General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza has denied that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has asked him to turn over the judiciary’s files regarding the attacks on former Ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias Murr, and ex-communist party leader George Hawi.

In remarks to al-Joumhouria daily published Saturday, Mirza said: “We haven’t been informed by the international tribunal about the deferral orders on the cases of Elias Murr, Marwan Hamadeh and George Hawi.”

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Official: Sarkozy’s Warning of UNIFIL Pullout is Not the First

A warning made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier in the month that Paris would consider pulling its troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon if it comes under attack again, is not the first, an official told An Nahar daily Saturday.

In a letter sent to his Lebanese counterpart President Michel Suleiman and PM Najib Miqati, Sarkozy said: “If the July 26, 2011 attack takes place again then France would wonder whether there is any reason to keep its troops to confront the dangers that the host country is not dealing with appropriately.”

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Charbel Considers Time Interview as Notification

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has said that the TIME magazine report should be considered by the general prosecutor’s office as a notification.

TIME has interviewed one of the four suspects wanted in connection with ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination. The magazine didn’t identify the suspect.

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