Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday urged "every official and every citizen to boycott the work of U.N. investigators" probing the murder of former premier Rafik Hariri. "I call on all officials to do what their conscience and honor tell them … Enough violations."
"All cooperation with the investigators is a contribution to the assault on the Resistance. We call on everyone to boycott these investigators," Nasrallah added.
In a brief televised address, Nasrallah noted that the investigation has reached "a sensitive point, which is related to our honor and dignity, the thing that requires us to have a difference stance." His speech came one day after two investigators from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon were attacked by a group of angry women at a gynecology clinic in a Hizbullah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut.
"I was stunned by the promptness of the STL prosecutor in opening an investigation (into the Dahiyeh incident) while he has remained mum for years regarding false witnesses," said the Hizbullah's leader.
"We've remained mum throughout this period out of consideration for the family of martyr premier Rafik Hariri, and so that no one thinks we're obstructing the investigation. We ask: what does the probe need our women's medical files for?" Nasrallah wondered.
"We ask everyone: Who among you accepts the idea of someone taking a look at the gynecology files of a mother, a sister or a daughter?" he added.
Quoting legal experts, Nasrallah described the investigators' step as "illegal," adding that it insults "religious and moral values."
On the other hand, he noted that his party has obtained information that "the U.S. is pressuring (Prosecutor Danielle) Bellemare to accelerate the issuance of the indictment before December." "We have been aware that the international community is violating everything in Lebanon, and they have been collecting information about Hizbullah that go beyond the goal of serving the investigation," added Nasrallah.
He charged that "everything the international investigators obtain reaches the hands of the U.S. and Israel."
"The investigation has already ended and the indictment has already been written and finalized, and it is the same one that was published by Der Spiegel and Le Figaro" newspapers, Nasrallah concluded.
