The Simplified Truth Of The International Tribunal Uncovered

Last Thursday afternoon, the Youth Club at the American University of Beirut hosted a conference in the Bathish Auditorium regarding a very important and controversial issue on the Lebanese scene: the international tribunal. Speakers included Mohammad Matar, a renowned lawyer and Faysal Salman a journalist and political analyst. The event kicked off with a question set forth by Judy Karim: "Who killed Raffic Hariri ?"

During the first half of the event, Matar gave listeners a brief overview about the history of international tribunals, and some other important judiciary and legal information regarding the court.

A few months after the international community adopted U.N. resolution 1559, he said, on February 14th 2005, martyr and ex-prime minister Raffic Hariri was assassinated when his motorcade was targeted by terrorists in downtown Beirut. In the aftermath of the crime, a colossal amount of repercussions took place both on the international and national scene, namely the March 14th manifestation that led to the withdrawal of Syrian armed forces that had been occupying Lebanon for the past 30 years.

Shortly after the assassination, Matar added, the United Nations Security Council delegated Fitzgerald to perform a survey on both Lebanese forensic and judiciary capabilities to handle such a massive case. Fitzgerald soon concluded that it was impossible for Lebanese authorities to uncover the circumstances of this horrific crime; thus was born the idea of the international tribunal.

Moreover, Matar indicated that the jurisdiction or mandate of the court is limited to the series of terrorist attacks that hit Lebanon after the attempt that almost claimed the life of Minister Marwan Hamade. He added that capital punishment is not allowed and that responsibility is assumed in respect to "the chain of command".

Matar also explained that if the international tribunal is adopted by the United Nations Security Council under chapter 7, article 41, any non-compliance with the international community would lead to economic sanctions, as opposed to article 42 where the use of military force is allowed to enforce the adopted resolution.

In contrast, journalist Faysal Saleman proposed a general overview of the political crisis that accompanied the international tribunal during its lifespan. He began by raising a number of what he referred to as unanswerable questions, such as: "Does every Lebanese want the uncovering of the truth? ", and "Is it a coincidence