Lebanon, Syria and the UN - Cloud of Suspicion

On December 12 Lebanese politician and editor, Gebrane Tueni, was killed in a car bomb in Beirut with three others. Hailed by the UN Security Council as an outspoken symbol of freedom and of the political independence of Lebanon, he died ten months after the assassination of the country’s former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, in the same week the Security Council extended the mandate of the Mehlis Commission investigating that killing. These bombings of anti-Syrian politicans – at least thirteen died in fourteen incidents last year – are now firmly on the agenda, but the Council must ensure that the way in which it deals with them does not set aside human rights and proper legal processes.