Najjar Warns of “Bad Impact” if MoU Not Endorsed
A ministerial committee will soon meet to consider the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, as Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said failure to endorse the MoU would have a "bad impact."
An Nahar daily quoted informed sources on Monday as saying they hoped a solution would be found to Hizbullah”s reservations about some of the MoU”s articles.
Last week, the cabinet postponed discussion of the MoU till Thursday and formed a committee tasking Ministers Mohammed Fneish, Khaled Qabbani and Najjar with studying the memorandum and making proposals for this week”s session.
The memorandum proposed by the justice ministry seeks to regulate relations between the Lebanese judiciary and the tribunal”s general prosecutor.
Najjar told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that the cabinet should "unanimously and as soon as possible" adopt the MoU, warning of a "bad impact" if it isn”t approved.
Najjar stressed that the tribunal”s prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, hasn”t "until this moment" asked the Lebanese judiciary to hand him the investigation file on ex-Premier Rafik Hariri”s assassination.