Arab lawyers call for support for Hariri tribunal

Arab lawyers called on Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world Tuesday to embrace the U.N.-backed tribunal set up to prosecute the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The appeal came at a conference for lawyers from the Arab world to discuss the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as the court prepares to publish the first indictment - expected within a few weeks - naming suspects in the 2005 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.

The pro-tribunal tone of the conference is in stark contrast to comments Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who said last year his group would "cut off the hand" of anyone who tries to arrest any of its members.

The tribunal was set up at Lebanon's request when the country was governed by Hariri's political heirs, but ran into increasing opposition as the Hezbollah militia gained influence in the government. Hezbollah's demand that the government renounce the tribunal led to the collapse last month of the Cabinet led by Hariri's son, Saad Hariri.

Mohammed Ayat, a senior legal adviser to the prosecutor of the Rwanda Tribunal and law professor in Rabat, Morocco, told the conference the Arab world "cannot be a simple observer" in international efforts to prosecute atrocities.

Ayat urged the lawyers to support the tribunal "in order to heal the wounds of the people and help them progress to a real and sustainable reconciliation."

It is widely expected that Hezbollah members will be named in the tribunal's indictment. Hezbollah may be in a position to block the tribunal's work after its favored candidate, billionaire businessman Najib Mikati, was named Lebanon's new prime minister-designate.

Mikati has insisted he wants a unity government and will not do the bidding of any one side in Lebanon's fractious political landscape.

However, Hezbollah may seek to end Lebanon's 49-percent contribution to the court's $65.7 million (€48 million) budget.

On Monday, European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels offered to bail out the court if necessary, saying the tribunal "must continue its work without impediment and with the cooperation of the Lebanese government."

The ministers said that "funding must be preserved" and the EU and members states "stand ready to provide further funding."

Abdul Hameed al-Ahdab, president of the Scientific Association for Disseminating legal culture in the Arab World, which organized the conference in The Hague, urged an end to impunity for crimes in Arab nations.

"If we want a prosperous Arab world where the people are an example to follow, then the truth must be revealed, the justice must rule and the victims of oppression must have justice," he said.