Ahlul Bayt News Agency ; Lebanese Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj-Hasan said that accusing Hezbollah of PM Rafiq Hariri’s murder was categorically rejected. Speaking to Al-Manar Website, Hajj-Hasan said “we cannot tolerate that you [PM Saad Hariri’s bloc] accuse us and then forgive us five years from now,” referring to the same bloc’s accusation to Syria and then acknowledgement – five years later - by Hariri himself that the accusation was wrong. “This is unacceptable,” the Hezbollah minister said.
On the false witnesses in the Hariri assassination case, Hajj-Hasan expected that the issue will be raised during the next Cabinet meeting when Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar finalizes his report on the case. “We hope he would attend the next meeting to discuss this matter,” the minister said. Najjar did not attend Tuesday’s Cabinet session and the false witnesses’ case was not properly discussed.
MP FADLALLAH: HARIRI'S BLOC RHETORIC TARGETS NATIONAL UNITY
On Tuesday, Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc member MP Hasan Fadlallah said in a statement that PM Hariri’s team was persistent in escalating the sectarian rhetoric “to blot out facts, destabilize the country and incite sedition.”
The Future bloc questioned on Tuesday the presence of “Hezbollah’s armed members” at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri Airport on Saturday, when opposition delegations received former General Security chief Jamil Sayyed upon his arrival from France. Following its weekly meeting on Tuesday, the Future bloc accused Hezbollah of “terrorizing the Lebanese” as it condemned the move.
MP Fadlallah added that Hariri’s bloc has not learned the lessons of past experiences, “and is now trying to repeat its mistakes either through baseless accusations [to Hezbollah] or by exploiting the justice system for political ends. The equations has changed and it is not allowed anymore to dominate state institutions and control the state’s decisions because we are ready to defend it.”
Attorney General Judge Said Mirza requested to summon Sayyed last week, after the latter criticized the PM for turning a blind eye at the false witnesses in the murder case of martyr Rafiq Hariri. The testimonies of the false witnesses led to the arbitrary detention of Sayyed and three other top generals for four years. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon ordered their release last year for not being suspects in the case. According to Sayyed, the law stipulates that Mirza has no jurisdiction to summon the former general because of the law suits Sayyed had filed against the judge in Syria and the STL.
“We underline that protecting the state is to protect its institutions and to prevent them from being used for sectarian purposes. Seeking the truth [behind Hariri’s assassination] starts with prosecuting the false witnesses.” Fadlallah said.
In his statement, MP Fadlallah stressed Hezbollah will not lay down its arms. “They {Hariri’s bloc] should forget about disarming the resistance, for this is what Israel’s wars and US resolutions have failed to do.”
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