LEBANON’S SAAD HARIRI WANTS JUSTICE FOR HIS FATHER’S KILLER

Mon 15 February 2021:

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri marked the 16th anniversary of his father’s assassination on Sunday, demanding that one of his killers be handed over.

Salim Ayyash, whose whereabouts are unknown, was sentenced in December last year in absentia to five life prison terms for his central role in the 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Speaking in a televised address, Hariri said the Lebanese people’s longing for his father is growing every year.

He noted that after 16 years, those who “believed themselves to be greater than the country” could not forget his father and are “still afraid of his true project for the country.”

Hariri called for the turning over of Ayyash, a member of the Hezbollah group.

“A judgment was issued by the Special Court for Lebanon against Salim Ayyash, one of the assassins of the late prime minister. This ruling must be implemented, and Ayyash must be delivered, no matter how long it takes,” he said.

“The decision against Ayyash will be implemented. The assassinations, which need to end, will also come to an end. Otherwise, it is inevitable that events will break out,” Hariri said, also touching on the political crisis in the country that has been going on for months.

Hariri rejected criticism of his late father, saying: “Hariri’s policy had brought back Lebanon to the scene, attracted investors and tourists, and set the first cellular network in the Middle East even before Israel did, and it was a policy of moderation.”

Saying that those who prevent the forming of the new government have prevented the implementation of reforms and deepened the economic crisis, Hariri pointed out that he would not retreat from his efforts to save Lebanon.

On Wednesday, Hariri met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to discuss the internal problems he faces in forming a government.

Last October, Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun assigned Hariri, the leader of the Future Movement, to form the country’s new government, less than a year after Hariri’s last government resigned.

Hariri has served as premier twice, from 2009 to 2011 and from 2016 to this January.

Lebanon has not been able to form a new government since Hassan Diab’s government resigned six days after a catastrophic explosion rocked the port of the capital Beirut last August, killing over 200 people. 

“Things are not going well, for the economy is in crisis, a dear part of our beloved Beirut was destroyed by the explosion of the port, the new coronavirus pandemic is devastating our families, and the series of assassinations is continuing with the last victim being martyr Lokman Slim,” Hariri said.