December 16, 2005

THE ASSASSINATION OF LEBANESE MP AND JOURNALIST GIBRAN TUENI IN A CAR EXPLOSION IN BEIRUT. THE LEBANESE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS AGREES ON THE FORMATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL COURT TO LOOK INTO THE INCIDENT AND THE PREVIOUS ACTS OF ASSASSINATION. SAAD AL-HARIRI: THE HANDFUL OF WICKED PEOPLE WHO ASSASSINATED MARTYR PRIME MINISTER RAFIK HARIRI ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO ARE BEHIND THIS NEW CRIME AND ALL TERRORIST CRIMES. SYRIA CONDEMNS THE ACT AND DENOUNCES THE BOMBING THAT KILLED MP TUENI. A car bomb killed Lebanese MP and Journalist Gibran Tueni, a day after he returned to Lebanon from France. Four others were killed in the massive explosion that wrecked Tueini's armored vehicle when it passed by a car parked on the side of the road in Beirut's Christian suburb of Mkalles. Security sources said the bomb containing 100 kg of explosives was detonated by remote control. Tueni was the publisher of one of Lebanon's renowned Arabic newspaper Al Nahar. Tueni, who won a parliamentary seat in the June election, was a prominent opposition figure who frequently attacked the Syrian presence in Lebanon. Fearing for his life, he had taken refuge in France, with other Lebanese politicians, including MP Saad Hariri, son of slain former Premier Rafik Hariri. Tueni arrived in Lebanon late Sunday, with only a few aware of his arrival. A previously unknown group claimed responsibility for the assassination. In a statement bearing no insignia or letterhead, the group calling itself "Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant," said the same fate awaited other opponents of "Arabism" in Lebanon. "We have succeeded today again in liquidating another of the mouthpieces that have... spread their poison and lies and not stopped despite the warnings we have sent him time and again," the statement said. "We have broken the pen of Gibran Tueni and shut his mouth forever and transformed Al Nahar into a very dark night," it said. The Lebanese government held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation after the assassination of the Lebanese parliamentarian and media man Gibran Tueini in a violent blast that shocked the industrial region in East Beirut of the Christian majority. The Lebanese minister of state for parliamentary issues Michael Faroun said that the meeting discussed the forming an international court to look into the incident and the previous acts of assassination. Faroun considered that current developments are heading towards an international investigation and trial, describing the assassination of Tueini as a great catastrophe. Intensive investigations started immediately on the facts behind the assassination of Tueini who had also occupied the post of the Director General of the Lebanese daily newspaper Al Nahar. Demonstrations took place in front of Al Nahar building in Down Town Beirut and another in front of the Orthodox Hospital. Protestors were demonstrating against the latest killing and called for the truth behind all the assassinations, which have rocked Lebanon in the past year. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called for an urgent session hours after the killing of MP Gibran Tueini the same morning. Fouad Siniora, Lebanese Prime-Minister said in a speech after the meeting: We will not surrender, we will not surrender. The criminals continue to kill us one after the other. We will not surrender whatever is the price.' After four hours of debate, the government voted in favor of calling for an international court to investigate the February murder of Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and ask the United Nations to probe the other assassination attacks on anti-Syrian critics. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora went on saying: "We say to the killers that we will not turn back on the path of independence, sovereignty, freedom and unity," Siniora said ahead of a cabinet meeting. "I am calling on the Security Council to investigate this terrorist attack and all attacks (since October 2004)," he said. "I am also seeking the creation of an international court for the murder of Rafik Hariri because it was not simply a case of killing a person but a terrorist threat against an entire people." "I will ask the Security Council to look into this crime and the others that have been committed... in order to take the necessary measures," Siniora told reporters hours after the assassination. "I will also ask for the formation of a court with an international character in the assassination of martyr Rafik Hariri because it has gone beyond personal assassinations." Siniora said Lebanon would not submit to intimidation and vowed to defeat the "criminals" behind the series of assassinations. "We have no option but to confront the criminals until we defeat them," he said. Rafik Hariri, five-time Prime Minister, was killed in a Beirut bomb blast in February that was followed by a string of attacks against anti-Syrian politicians and journalists in Lebanon. In October 2004, Cabinet Minister Marwan Hamadeh survived an attempt on his life. Five ministers withdrew from the session in disagreement and said that this was not a resignation from the government but a suspension of membership in the cabinet while awaiting a decision from their upper- political leadership. The ministers included Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, Hizbollah's Labour Minister Trad Hamadeh, Hizbollah Energy Minister Mohammed Fneish and Agriculture Minister Talal Sahili, as well as the Environment Minister Yacoub Sarraf. Fneich told reporters that they objected to the principle of internationalizing all Lebanese files which lead to Lebanon's loss of its sovereignty. He added that later on they might accept a tribunal and an international probe but the proposals must be examined in depth. Following the cabinet meeting, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said that the government was to ask the UN Security Council to expand the duties of the investigation commission set up under Resolution 1595, or to set up an independent commission to help the Lebanese authorities to probe the terrorist crimes that have struck the country. Aridi added that the UN Security Council was to decide on setting up an international tribunal in Lebanon or outside the country. Tueni's uncle, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, had earlier demanded an international inquiry and threatened to resign with other supporting ministers if his demands were not met. Hamadeh, who survived an attempt on his life in October 2004, directly accused Syria of killing his nephew. Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt said "the new message of terrorism has been received and it is the same as the one which attempted to assassinate Marwan Hamadeh." President Emile Lahoud denounced the crime and accused "the enemy of Lebanon's stability," of standing behind it. Hezbollah condemned the "cowardly crime," and denounced "this act which aims at hitting Lebanon's unity." The group said "the sole beneficiary of this crime is the enemy," meaning Israel. The assassination came a day after German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis submitted a report to the UN Security Council on Hariri's murder. The report said Syria had been "slow" to cooperate with his investigation, contrary to Security Council resolutions, and that the inquiry team had identified 19 suspects whom it did not name. Meanwhile schools, shops and businesses closed down in Lebanon to mourn anti-Syrian journalist and legislator Gibran Tueni. His family started receiving condolences today at 11 o'clock at the St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Achrafieh. Slain Tueini's funeral took place at the St George orthodox cathedral in downtown Beirut. He was laid to rest at the family cemetery at the Mar Metr church in Achrafieh. At around nine o'clock on Monday morning a Renault car trapped with 40 kg of dynamite was exploded by remote control in the Mkalles area as MP Gibran Tueni's armored Range Rover drove by on the way to his office at Al Anahar newspaper in downtown Beirut. The 48 year old MP for the Orthodox seat in Achrafieh was accompanied by a friend, Andre Michel, and his driver Nicholas Flouty. All three died in the blast. Security reports said they were charred beyond recognition. The force of the car bomb blew Tueni's vehicle off the road and sent it careering around 100 meters down a steep incline into the valley. Police reported finding assault rifles and military bags near the MP's wrecked vehicle. Tueni's wife, Siham, arrived at the bombsite. Tueni's body was taken to Hotel Dieu hospital and was later transferred to St.Georges hospital. As his coffin arrived, bells from nearby churches rang in his honor and the pallbearers chanted anti Syrian slogans. A source from Al Nahar said that a close acquaintance Tueni recalled how hard he tried to convince Tueni to stay in Paris but he was determined to return and gave way to pressure from politicians who said he had to go back because political life was full of risks. Tueni returned from Paris Sunday night after attending a ceremony where his father Ghassan Tueni was awarded an honor legion medal. He had moved to France in August after being informed that his name was on a list of potential targets. Hundreds of defiant youths waving Lebanese flags massed outside the floodlit glass tower of the Al Nahar newspaper in Beirut Monday evening to mourn Tueni. Many raised his portraits while others wore sky-blue T-shirts bearing the words 'may your words carry on and on' -- in reference to Tueni's impassioned calls for Lebanese unity and sovereignty. A long line of political figures, diplomats, journalists and students filed past Al Nahar's offices to pay their respects to a man hailed as a champion of Lebanon's freedom. Officials and parliamentarians expressed indignation over Tueni's assassination. The progressive Socialist party said the terrorist blast was an actual translation of the ideology of chaos. The Future Bloc considered the crime a continuation of terrorist acts targeting the security and stability of Lebanon and aimed at inculcating fear in the Lebanese people and suffocating their freedom. Indignation also came from the Democratic Renewal Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, Hizbollah, the speaker of parliament, the Mufti of the republic, and the orthodox patriarch Elias Audi, Patriarch Elias Audi, who called for all Beirut's schools to be closed on Tuesday in a sign of protest against the assassination while Beirut's business association called for a general strike. The head of the Future Parliamentary Bloc MP Saad Hariri condemned firmly the new terrorist crime that targeted a great symbol of freedom and national achievements in Lebanon. It is a crime that is added to the series of terrorist crimes that is targeting Lebanon, its leadership and the will of its free people to live in dignity, sovereignty, independence and its adherence to the national unity and coexistence. He said: "The assassination of the friend and colleague MP Gibran Tueini strengthen our commitment to resist all attempts to destabilize the country, and shake its confidence in order to bring back tutelage and hegemony on Lebanon, its people and its free decision through terrorism. This gives a new reason for our insistence on knowing the truth about who assassinated Martyr Premier Rafik Hariri and all martyrs who fell for Lebanon's sake and bring the criminals to an international tribunal that would inflict on them the harshest punishment." MP Hariri called on the Lebanese to adhere to the national unity and the democratic system that Martyr Gibran Tueini was one of its pillars in Parliament as in the media. He said: "The Lebanese, who resisted the harshest terrorist attacks, will not allow those who think that they can harm the Lebanese people and its symbols and harm their unity and commitment to achieve justice, and their attachment to their freedom. They will prove to the whole world that their sacrifices will not go in vain and nothing will terrorize them or diminish their strong will." He added: "There is no doubt that Martyr Gibran Tueini paid the price of his courage, free opinion, and honest representation of his constituents and Lebanese public opinion, as well as his attachment to the democratic system and coexistence and putting national interest above all others." MP Hariri said: "The handful of wicked people who assassinated Martyr Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and who were pointed out by the International Probe Committee report, are the same people who are behind this new crime and all terrorist crimes which were committed against Lebanon since the assassination attempt on Minister Marwan Hamadeh and which reached the peak with the assassination of Martyr Premier Rafik Hariri, MP Bassel Fuleihan, as well as the assassination of the writer Samir Kassir, and National Leader George Hawi and the assassination attempts against Minister Elias el- Murr, Media Figure May Chidiac and today's terrorist crime that killed Martyr Gibran Tueini." MP Hariri asserted that Beirut which lost today a unique MP and a free voice, will not allow the coward terrorist murderers to consecrate the blind escape equation, and will continue to chase them until they pay the price for what they committed." MP Hariri offered his condolences to Mr. Ghassan Tueini, to his wife Siham, his daughters Nadia, Gabriella, Nayla and Michelle, to the Lebanese people, the Beirutis in particular, to An-Nahar newspaper family, to the Lebanese media in general, to the parliament, and to the youth of March 14 whom Martyr Gibran Tueini was one its pioneers in the Square of Freedom. MP Hariri called on the Lebanese government and the Arab and international community to act immediately in order to put an end to this terrorist cycle and to uncover the criminals who planned and executed these terrorist crimes against Lebanon no matter whom they are and where they are, and bring them to an international tribunal without any delay. On the other hand Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah said that the bomb blast that killed MP Gibran Tueni was an attempt to frame Damascus and damage its reputation. In a statement carried by the official Syrian news agency SANA, Syria denounced the bombing quote whose timing was intended to direct accusations to Syria. Dakhlallah added that the foreign interference in Lebanon was the reason behind all the chaos. The preliminary United Nations report implicated Syria in the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri. Syria has quickly condemned the assassination of Lebanese member of parliament Gibran Tueini. An official statement quoted by the Syrian Official News Agency SANA said that the timing of the explosion, which took place in Beirut on Monday shows the intention to damage Damascus's reputation. The statement expressed Syria's "pain and regret over the incidents of explosions and assassinations which target Lebanon's security and its peace and stability," stressing that "those behind these blasts are the enemies of Lebanon." The Syrian information minister Mahdi Dakhlallah accused what he called "foreign intervention" in Lebanon to destabilize the country. In press statements, the Syrian minister said that Syria "condemns acts of terrorism and does not agree on such acts regardless to political differences with this person or another." Syrian Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah blamed "foreign interference." "Syria denounces all attacks whoever the victims," he told LBC television. "Whatever the differences between this or that person, Syria does not subscribe to these methods, which are used by the numerous enemies of Lebanon." The assassination of Tueini coincided with the submission of the report of the UN investigation team into the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri to the UN secretary general Kofi Annan. Meantime, an unidentified group calling itself "AlMunadiloun Min Ajl Wahdat Wahurriat al-Mashreq ( the militants for the unity and freedom of the Arab al-Mashreq states) claimed responsibility for the assassination of Tueini.