High Expectations on Mehlis Report

​​After the murder of the former Prime Minister Rafik Al Hariri in February, 2005, a protest movement sprang up in Lebanon, demanding a full investigation of the assassination and the resignation of the state security chiefs.

It was not only Lebanese demonstrators who took an interest in the case, but also the international community. Irish police officer Peter Fitzgerald was sent to Lebanon with a mandate from the United Nations Security Council to collect evidence.

One month later he published a final report containing not only details of the crime but also the political background, including the tensions between Hariri and the Syrian government before the assassination. Further, he gave Lebanese officials a bad report card, maintaining that the Lebanese investigation was uncoordinated and incompetent.

The UN Security Council also became involved and created an international investigation committee under Resolution 1595. The Lebanese government was not able to oppose passage of the resolution.

While the Lebanese government considered this an improper encroachment of the international community on its internal affairs, the opposition saw it as a guarantee that there would be an impartial investigation. The search for the truth became a national and international imperative.

An unpopular disclosure

When the senior public prosecutor stationed in Berlin received a call from Kofi Annan's office while vacationing in Mallorca, the UN found their man to lead the commission investigating the assassination of Al Hariri. Given his experience in the region while investigating the attack on the Maison de France in 1983 and the bombing of the Berlin disco La Belle, Detlev Mehlis seemed to be a suitable candidate.

But then he began his work with a disclosure that was unpopular among the opposition: At a press conference Mehlis declared that the explosion—in contrast to reigning theories—took place above ground and he presented a photograph of a small truck in which the deadly load had exploded.

In addition, during the press conference he mentioned a witness protection program and allowed for questions by reporters. Mehlis had a quiet and objective demeanor during his appearances before the Lebanese public, despite his reputation there as a fox, wolf or Colombo-type figure.

Accusations against four secret service chiefs

During this phase he gained the sympathy of many different camps. The expectations on him were high, as was the trust in him. In an interview he admitted that the hopes of the entire Lebanese people weighed on him like "sacks of cements" on his shoulders.

When Mehlis arrested four Lebanese security chiefs in a cloak-and-dagger operation in August, the Lebanese public was paralyzed. For the Arabic world this was a very singular event. The four secret service officers were accused of plotting the assassination of the former Prime Minister.

These arrests brought to light the full dimensions of this rigorous search for the truth. The entire Lebanese security apparatus was at stake. For many this move served as final proof that the commission was taking its work seriously.

When Mehlis set out to question witnesses in Damascus, the scope of the investigation was extended across the region. These developments have been accompanied by demands that Hezbollah and Palestinian groups in Lebanon be disarmed. "For many Lebanese, there are too many changes that have gotten out of hand," says a political observer.

Effects on Syria

Then there was talk that the investigation had become politicized. Above all the United States, so it was said, wanted to use the commission's findings to push for political changes in Syria. Critics then accused Mehlis of being anti-Syrian and allowing the US to instrumentalize him.

Parallels were drawn to the condemnation of Libya as a nation of state terrorism and the American bombing of Libya in response. According to some critics, a politicization of the investigating commission would be repeated in Syria and could be used by the US as an excuse for a punitive strike against Syria.

The UN commission's work has been accompanied by a series of assassinations, above all in Christian areas. Over the course of one year there were fourteen unresolved attacks, and many people are anxious to see an end to the lack of security. Some fear that the situation will escalate before the commission's findings are released.

The Lebanese Minister President Fuad Siniora has even said that "Lebanon is currently engaged in a war against terrorism." This kind of diction, expected more from George W. Bush, has caught people's attention. They understand this to confirm the theory that the commission's work has been instrumentalized by the US.

Results are unclear

The public debate seems to have gone back to the level seen during the phase directly following the assassination of Hariri. Everyone is using the circulating rumors to back up their own theories and worst case scenarios of the effects on the entire region.

Trust in the commission seems to have become a matter of faith. Following the assassination the line of division ran between government supporters and the opposition, while today it is regional political issues that divide the different camps.

On October 20 Mehlis will present his final report to Kofi Annan in New York. So far none of the political assassinations in Lebanon have ever really been explained. It is still unclear whether an international or a national court will hear the case against Lebanese and possibly Syrian suspects.

The Lebanese justice minister, a confidante of President Emil Lahoud, has said that "the Lebanese authorities do not have the capacity to carry out a trial, they will need international help."

No "redemption" for Lebanon

"The expectations placed on this report are absurdly high," say those around Mehlis. The report will contain "many interesting and contentious insights," but further inquiry will still be necessary: "A crime of this magnitude cannot be solved in a few weeks." Well-informed sources claim to know that "evidence of Syria's role is not sufficient to bring a case in court."

The "redemption" hoped for will thus not issue from Mehlis' report when it is published in October. Nor will the case likely be resolved with the publication of the UN commission's report.

The Lebanese will have to live in the shadow of the investigation and its consequences for the region and for the international community. But the search for the truth—so necessary for restoring faith in the nation and in law and order— is still a long and uneasy road.

Bernhard Hillenkamp

Translated from the German by Christina White

© Qantara.de 2005

Qantara.de

Civil Society in Lebanon
Sensitive Political Issues Are Avoided
After the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, thousands took to the street to protest. In Beirut, Bernhard Hillenkamp interviewed social economist Omar Traboulsi about the prospects of civil society in the midst of political turmoil