Rafik Hariri
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Jumblat Criticizes Dar al-Fatwa Meeting, Participates in Celebratory Gunfire as Mubarak Steps Down

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has hinted that he was frustrated from the latest meeting of Lebanon's highest Sunni Muslim authority.

Sunni council Dar al-Fatwa on Thursday warned the next cabinet against abandoning the international tribunal investigating the 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

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Six Years on, Hariri Legacy Falters

Six years after Rafik Hariri's assassination galvanized Lebanon, sparking mass protests seen in Beirut as a model for Egypt's uprising, his legacy is faltering in a country torn by a U.N. probe of the murder.

The camp of outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain five-time premier, has since "suffered a number of setbacks," said Asaad AbuKhalil, professor at California State University and author of a political blog.

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U.S. Says it Intends to Judge Next Lebanese Government by its Deeds

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg has said that Washington “intends to judge the next Lebanese government by its deeds.”

“We will be watching Prime Minister-designate (Najib) Miqati to see whether he makes good on his public pledge to build a broad-based government that represents all sections of Lebanese society,” Steinberg said in a testimony at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Egypt and Lebanon on Thursday.

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Bahia Hariri: Former PM Hariri’s Blood Will Only Be Means to Establish State that Harbors All its Sons

MP Bahia al-Hariri stressed on Sunday that former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination will only be a means for the establishment of a better life and a just state that harbors all its sons.

She said during a speech commemorating the sixth anniversary of her brother’s death: “The martyr’s blood will not be a means to reach power because it belongs to the youth who rose up against crime and oppression against them and their stability, security, and future.”

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Report: March 14 to Announce Future Objectives on Hariri’s Murder Anniversary

The March 14 forces are reportedly preparing a political document on their future objectives that they would most probably announce on the sixth anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

Informed sources in the alliance told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Thursday that the March 14 forces are planning to hold a political gathering rather than a mass rally on the February 14 murder anniversary.

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Francois Roux: Indictment Will See Light in a Few Weeks

Head of the international tribunal’s defense office Francois Roux has said that the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case will be unveiled soon.

“The indictment will see light in a few weeks,” Roux told An Nahar daily on the sidelines of a conference for lawyers from the Arab world to discuss the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

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Arab Lawyers Call for Support for International Tribunal

Arab lawyers have called on Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world to embrace the Special Tribunal for Lebanon set up to prosecute the suspected assassins of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Lawyers from the Arab world are meeting to discuss the tribunal as it prepares to publish the first indictment — expected within a few weeks — naming suspects in the 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.

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Bellemare to Fransen: Lebanese Law Applicable in Defining Crimes, STL to Resort to Int'l Law Only if Necessary

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare on Monday responded to the "preliminary questions of law" raised by Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen after the prosecutor filed a confidential indictment in the Hariri murder for confirmation.

Fransen is tasked with confirming the charges in the indictment filed under seal by Bellemare on January 17, and is allowed to ask the tribunal's organs questions of a legal nature in the process of doing so.

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Assad Pleased that ‘Transition Between 2 Lebanese Governments Happened Smoothly’

Syrian President Bashar Assad said he was pleased with the “smooth transition” between the two Lebanese governments, unveiling that any conflict would have evolved into civil war in Lebanon.

"What pleases me is that this transition between the two governments happened smoothly, because we were worried," Assad told The Wall Street Journal in a rare interview published Monday.

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Report: Miqati Informed Ambassadors his Rejection to Compromise on Any Political Issue

Premier-designate Najib Miqati met with more than 10 ambassadors in the past two days amid a report that he informed them about his rejection to compromise on any political issue.

Pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat quoted Western diplomatic sources as saying on Sunday that Miqati told the ambassadors that “he didn’t intend to compromise on any political file.”

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