April 12, 2011
When the case of Rafiq Hariri’s assassination was presented to the UN International Criminal Court in the Hague in February of this year, informed sources reported that 14 Iranians have had second and third degree charges filed against them. Among those listed are Ali Khamenei and Commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command and the Quds Force at the time of the 2005 assassination, the Iranian Foreign Minister, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon and employees at the Iranian embassies in Lebanon and Syria, as well as two Iranian businessmen in the grain industry who sent explosive materials and cars to Lebanon via shipments from East Asian countries.
It is said that an informed source at The Hague, whose first name is Fash, told Iran Briefing that in the last few months Iran and another European country have been negotiating to have the Supreme Leader’s name, as well as those of elite Iranian military commanders, erased from the court’s list of suspects. Based on this report, Ali Khamenei and lead Commanders of the IRGC and the Quds Force are accused of supporting and planning this assassination. 18 Hezbollah members in Lebanon and three Lebanese police officers are listed as those who carried out the assassination.
Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was killed in a car bomb attack on his motorcade in Beirut on February 14, 2005.
From the very beginning, Syria and the Lebanese Hezbollah were the prime suspects. Because of growing pressures Syrian security and police forces left Lebanon two months after the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. The Lebanese Hezbollah also faced heavy pressure. Hezbollah responded very aggressively against these accusations, considering the arrest of 18 members as an American legal move.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, in a meeting with the Emir of Qatar responded to the accusations and the investigations made by the Hague, by saying that the UN Court, in order to pursue the case of Rafiq Hariri, “…is an officious court whose every verdict is rejected.” His statement came after Hezbollah Leaders said that they expected the UN Court to “lie” in accusing the Hezbollah members of murdering the former Lebanese prime minister.
It is said that more than ten witnesses from various countries such as Syria, Lebanon, France, Iraq, and Iran were present at the court to testify about the terrorist activities of Hezbollah and the IRGC Qud Force in Lebanon. As the Lebanese newspaper al-Diyar wrote in December 2010, two former IRGC members are among the witnesses. Al-Diyar claimed that these two former IRGC members had information about the IRGC’s and the Lebanese Hezbollah’s involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. These two Iranian witnesses are Alireza Asgari, elite IRGC commander and deputy to the former Iranian Defense Minister, and former member of the Quds Force.
