Skip to main content

Could Assad end up in court?

As the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague starts to hear testimony from several high-level Lebanese politicians, it's likely that evidence linking the assassination of Rafik Hariri directly to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will come to the surface, involving Assad directly in the trial.
A view of a sign on the exterior of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague, The Netherlands, January 16, 2014. The trial in absentia of the four suspects accused of killing Lebanese statesman Rafiq al-Hariri opened in The Hague on Thursday, nine years after the bomb attack in which the former prime minister and 21 others died. REUTERS/Toussaint Kluiters/United Photos (NETHERLANDS - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) - RTX17G3K
Read in 

The media in the coming week will undoubtedly focus on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in The Hague, in light of the testimony of Lebanese political figures as witnesses, and more importantly the insinuation of a link between the defendant’s cellphone lines and senior Syrian officials, whose names, according to Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Mashnouk, may include Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The lawyers of the five defendants who are being prosecuted by the international tribunal in absentia — after the Lebanese and international authorities failed to find them and bring them before the special tribunal, which was established under UN Security Council Resolution 1757 on May 30, 2007 — anticipate a correlation between the expected testimonies and the cellphone line links.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.