UN Chief backs Lebanon tribunal

UN: UN chief Ban Ki-moon Sunday added his backing to the work of a UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, in a meeting with his son, the current premier.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed new support for the tribunal in a meeting with Prime Minister Saad Hariri in New York on Friday. Growing tensions in his country have dominated Hariri’s talks on his trip.

Members of the Shiite group Hezbollah are to be named in indictments to be filed by the Special Tribunal on Lebanon, according to media. The indictments are expected to be filed within weeks despite a Hezbollah campaign against the tribunal’s work, according to diplomats.

“The secretary general reiterated his support for the work of the tribunal, and stressed that it is an independent body. He hoped its work would help end impunity in Lebanon,” Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said after the Ban-Hariri meeting. Monday, AFP