BEIRUT: March 14 MP Marwan Hamadeh said over the weekend he believed the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) would seek to expand its jurisdiction into the cases of other assassinations in Lebanon alongside that of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

In an interview with a local radio station Sunday, Hamadeh also expressed his belief that Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblatt would return to the ranks of the March 14 coalition.

“In my opinion, this court [STL] will ask the U.N. Secretariat to take action to include the cases of [MP] Pierre Gemayel, [MP] Walid Eido, [MP] Antoine Ghanem and [Cap.] Wissam Eid to other cases which are linked to the main case of Gebran Tueni,” Hamadeh said Sunday.

In August the STL gave the court’s prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, jurisdiction over three similar cases that might be linked to the assassination of Hariri, that of slain Communist Party Leader Georges Hawi, former Deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr and Hamadeh.

Hawi was killed when his car exploded as he was driving through Beirut’s Wata Musaitbi district on June 21, 2005. Murr survived an assassination plot on his life after he was severely wounded by a car bomb on July 12, 2005.

In his interview Sunday, Hamadeh also expressed hope that Jumblatt would rejoin the March 14.

“I know him very well and I know that he was part of March 14 coalition in his own manner and he left it on his own manner and he may return to March 14 or to some other [side] that includes all those who believe in Lebanon as an Arab pluralistic democracy.”

Hamadeh also criticized the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, saying he believed “the government will not last a minute after the fall of the Syrian regime.”

Context

The STL was established in 2007 to try those involved in the assassination of five-time Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

In late June 2011, the U.N.-backed court issued indictments and arrest warrants against four members of Hezbollah who remain at large. Hezbollah denies any involvement in the assassination of Hariri.

The assassination of Hariri was one of spate of attacks in Lebanon that targeted figures mainly associated with the March 14 movement.

Those who died as a result of assassinations include: An-Nahar writer and owner MP Gebran Tueni who was assassinated by a car bomb on Dec. 12, 2005; MP Pierre Amine Gemayel who was shot dead in Beirut on Nov. 21, 2006; MP Walid Eido who was killed by a car bomb on June 12, 2007; MP Antoine Ghanem who was killed in a car bomb attack on Sept. 19, 2007 and Cap. Wissam Eid, of the Internal Security Forces, who was assassinated on Jan. 25, 2008.