An international tribunal, set in Netherlands, opened Sunday the 1st of march , 2009, to start prosecuting suspects in the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Hariri died in an explosion that killed twenty two other people on the 14th of February, 2005, to be the start of a series of assassinations targeting important Lebanese political figures.

The United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has recently requested Lebanon to send in the case related to the assassination of the former Prime Minister, along with a list of names of those detained as suspects related to the assassination.

After Hariri’s assassination, four Lebanese generals, including the former head of the presidential guard, were arrested as suspects. Suspicions behind the Generals arrest rise strongly with the fact that they have not been questioned for three years, the reason why Hezbollah saw it as an arbitrary detention. Three civilians were also arrested, for holding back information which was related to the case, yet were later released on bail.

The UN tribunal has asked authorities in Lebanon to send in all details about the case as soon as possible, as well as keep detainees held until a decision is made regarding whether they are to be sent to the UN court.

This tribunal is considered as one which lots of Lebanese people have been waiting for, while hoping that finding those responsible for Hariri’s assassination, and bringing them to justice, will be the first step towards a safer Lebanon.