The Special Tribunal for Lebanon - International Law - Law

Home >
Law >
International Law >
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Description
Contents
Author

Details

Provides a systematic analysis of the law and procedure of the the first international court created in response to a terrorist act: the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, established to try those responsible for the 2005 assassination of Rafic Hariri
Assesses in detail the Tribunal's controversial establishment, its rules of procedure, its relationship with the UN, and its contentious first decisions
Includes contributions from several practitioners with first-hand experience of the Tribunal, as well as many eminent scholars of international criminal law

This book provides a full analytical overview of the establishment and functioning of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the newest and most controversial of the UN-sponsored international criminal courts. In 2005, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated in a huge blast that reverberated across Lebanon and the region. The Tribunal was established with a mandate to try the perpetrators of the Hariri killing, as well as those responsible for other killings that are 'connected' to this core crime. Individuals associated with the Hezbollah group have been indicted to be tried in the court in The Hague-but in their absence as their locations are unknown.

The Tribunal is the UN's first attempt at addressing terrorism in an international criminal court, and the first attempt to set up international trials following crimes committed in the Middle East region. The court's narrow mandate and unique procedures have led many to question what kind of precedent it will set in a volatile region. This book looks at how the court was established, its foundational principles based on the Statute of the International Criminal Court and Lebanese domestic law, and the possible further development of its case law. It provides an authoritative guide to the procedure of the Tribunal,the status of the Registry, the rights of suspects and accused, trials in absentia, and the regulation of the conduct of counsel, drawing on comparisons to other international courts. The authors include those involved in setting up the court, prosecutors, defence counsel for the suspects, as well as judges and academic commentators who are experts on the issues covered in the book. They provide a probing insight into how the Tribunal came into being, its challenges, controversies, and its achievements to date.

Readership: Scholars and students of international criminal law and international courts and tribunals; practitioners and legal advisers working in these areas

1: David Tolbert: Introduction
2: Nicolas Michel: Establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
3: HE Bahije Tabbarah: Legal Nature of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
4: Amal Alamuddin: The relationship between the UN investigation commission and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon: Problems of Principle and Practice
5: Jean-Marc Sorel: The Court's Subject Matter Jurisdiction: the Crime of Terrorism in Lebanese and International Law
6: Philippa Webb: Individual Criminal Responsibility under the Statute
7: Nidal Jurdi: The Tribunal's Unique Rules of Procedure
8: Goran Sluiter: Cooperation from States and Individuals
9: Judge Howard Morisson: The Participation of Victims in the Judicial Process
10: John Jones: Protecting the Rights of Suspects and Accused
11: David Tolbert and Evelyn Anoya: Challenges for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Registry
12: Paola Gaeta: The Legality and Fairness of Trials in Absentia
13: Daryl Mundis and Pascal Chenivesse: Ethical Regulation of Counsel
14: Harmen Van der Wilt: The Legacy of the Tribunal

Amal Alamuddin is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, London, specialising in international law, human rights, criminal law and extradition. She appears in both English and international courts and provides written advice to individuals and governments. Amal has recently acted as adviser to Kofi Annan, the Joint Special Envoy of the UN and Arab League on Syria; as counsel to the government of Cambodia in a territorial dispute at the International Court of Justice; and as legal advisor to the Royal Court of the Kingdom of Bahrain in connection with the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) investigating alleged human rights abuses in Bahrain. Amal also represented the head of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, in extradition proceedings in the UK and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuila Tymonshenko before the European Court of Human Rights. Amal previously served as legal adviser to the Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and as legal adviser to the head of UNIIIC in Beiru

Nidal Nabil Jurdi holds a PhD in International Criminal Law and Human rights from University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Ireland. He lectures on International Law and Organizations at the American University of Beirut and is a visiting scholar at the Faculty of Law at McGill University, Canada, for the academic year 2013-2014. He is also a Human Rights officer at the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights. He has published a number of academic articles, and books on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) and human rights in Lebanon and the MENA region.

David Tolbert is currently president of the International Center for Transitional Justice. Previously he served as registrar (assistant secretary-general) of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and prior to that was assistant secretary-general and special expert to the United Nations secretary-general on United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials. From 2004 to 2008 Mr. Tolbert served as deputy chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He had previously been the deputy registrar of the ICTY and at an earlier time served at the ICTY as chef de cabinet to President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald and Senior Legal Adviser, Registry, serving a total of 9 years at the ICTY. He also represented the ICTY in the discussions leading up to the creation of the ICC and the Rome Conference and served as an expert to the ICC Preparatory Committee Inter-Sessional meetings.

Contributors:
Evelyn Anoya - Special Tribunal for Lebanon Registry
Pascal Chenivesse - Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Office of the Prosecutor
Paola Gaeta - Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
John Jones - barrister, defence counsel at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
Nicolas Michel - former UN Legal Counsel, Professor at the University of Geneva and adviser to Kofi Annan
Judge Howard Morisson - ICTY Judge; former Judge at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
Daryl Mundis - Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Office of the Prosecutor
Goran Sluiter - University of Amsterdam
Jean-Marc Sorel - University of Paris
HE Bahije Tabbarah - former Minister of Justice of Lebanon
Harmen Van der Wilt - University of Amsterdam
Philippa Webb - King's College, London