| المستخلص: |
The focus of this paper is to address the problems concerning the subject-matter jurisdiction of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). It discusses the ratione subjecate materiae of the international tribunals, and tribunals of international character, in contrast to the STL, which is contrary to the other tribunals in which the ratione subjecate materiae is limited to national crimes under the Lebanese Criminal Code (LCC). The paper will also examine the crime of terrorism as it is stated in the LCC by analysing the actus reus, and mens rea of the crime, and in doing, so will conclude that terrorism is not yet considered an international crime. Although the mental and material elements of crimes against humanity are met in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, (and other attacks are included within the subject-matter jurisdiction of the STL), these crimes were not classified as such. This appears to be due to the will of the Security Council (SC) to sever the STL’s authority to prosecute other atrocities committed on the territory of Lebanon in recent years, especially serious war crimes and crimes against humanity which have been committed on that same territory in the period of mid-2006 during the Israeli aggression on Lebanon. In addition, there has been the positioning of the institution (STL) generally as one that is a national tribunal with international features, rather than a truly international tribunal. This, in itself, may lead to complicate the mission undertaken by the STL Prosecutor, and will do little to assist any of the issues surrounding ‘Chain of Command’ immunity regarding Heads of State and other Senior Officials.
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