Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat dismissed claims on Thursday that former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's Feb. 14, 2005 assassination was linked to rampant corruption in Lebanon or a rising Saudi influence in the country.

“Hariri was killed for political reasons,” Jumblat told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon during the Defense Counsel's cross-examination.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat recounted on Wednesday how the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad used its allies in Lebanon to limit the powers of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his supporters.

“Hariri was working on expanding the opposition on the unconstitutional extension” of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term in 2004, Jumblat told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on the third day of his testimony.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat said on Tuesday that the Syrian regime took the failure to abolish political confessionalism in Lebanon as an excuse to remain in the country, adding the bombing that targeted MP Marwan Hamadeh was the first warning to ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

“The Taef Accord had called for abolishing the political sectarian system but this has not been achieved,” Jumblat told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on the second day of his testimony.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat began on Monday his testimony at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that is examining the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by recounting the nature of the ties between Lebanon and Syria, particularly with the ruling Assad family.

He told the trial chamber: “Bashar Assad showed hostility towards Rafik Hariri before he was elected president.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is expected to travel to The Hague in order to give his testimony before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that is examining the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, media reports said Friday.

Al-Mustaqbal daily stated that he is scheduled to travel to the Netherlands in 48 hours.

The contempt case against al-Jadeed TV network and journalist Karma al-Khayat, accused of obstructing justice, kicked off on Thursday at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague.

Al-Khayat and al-Jadeed S.A.L. are charged with two counts of contempt and obstruction of justice under rule 60 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon announced Monday that it has appointed Lebanese national Wajed Ramadan as its new spokesperson, succeeding the Egyptian Canadian Marten Youssef.

“Ramadan joined the tribunal in September 2009 and established the STL’s Outreach Office in Lebanon,” the court said in statement.

British Ambassador Tom Fletcher announced on Monday that the UK would be contributing an additional £1 million, around $1.5 million, to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that is trying the suspects in ex-PM Rafik Hariri's assassination.

Fletcher made the announcement during a phone call with Prime Minister Tammam Salam, the British embassy said in a statement.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon's Defense team continued on Thursday its cross-examination of head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora, with questions focusing on United Nations Security Council resolution 1559 and former Premier Rafik Hariri's ties with ex-President Emile Lahoud.

Saniora said: “Hariri fought hard to ensure that the term of later President Elias Hrawi was extended in 1995 in order to avoid the election of Emile Lahoud as president.”

The dialogue between the Mustaqbal Movement and Hizbullah is expected to continue despite the testimony of Mustaqbal bloc chief MP Fouad Saniora before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that revealed that slain former Premier Rafik Hariri was aware of Hizbullah assassination attempts against him, reported the daily An Nahar on Thursday.

Observers told the daily: “The dialogue will continue because the factors that preceded Saniora's testimony and those that followed it have not altered the course of the talks even if some March 8 coalition members sought to tarnish it through media campaigns.”