In the aftermath of the assassination of Rafik Al-Hariri in 2005, and since then, 4 high-profile security officials were held in custody of the Lebanese authorities without being charged, as permitted by Lebanese law when the detainees are believed to be a threat to national security.

Now that the Hariri case is under the international tribunal’s jurisdiction, such detention cannot be justified by the laws governing it. This led to the court’s decision to release them, and the Lebanese justice department acquiesced.

At first I was infuriated when I first read the news. How could they let them loose after what they have allegedly done? They might run away or start causing chaos again!
Coming back to my senses , and having reviewed the facts led me to think otherwise.

The fact that the Lebanese government abided by the decision of the tribunal is yet another proof that this case has not been politicized as Hezbollah & co. have been claiming.
More importantly though, and in the context of the upcoming elections, what has happened today should be an eye-opener for a lot of people.

When the tribunal was in the very early stages of being formed, we all saw how many impediments the ‘opposition’ put in the way of its formation (Resigning from the government, boycotting the parliament, to name a few of the non-violent ones). All was done under the pretext that this is a politicized tribunal whose verdict has already been pronounced and bought by the March 14th Alliance and that its formation will be a threat to Lebanese sovereignty.

Today’s event have shown how wrong March 8th Alliance was, but most of all, it offered us an opportunity to view the contrast between the 2 parties and how much they value the rule of law when it does not play in their favor…Enough for me to decide which of them I want to lead my country into the future.