NNA - Defense lawyer of Hussein Oneissi, accused of involvement in the 2005 Beirut bombing, on Monday slammed the Prosecution of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for "obstructing the work of the defense by delaying access to files."


"The prosecution presented the telecom data exactly as it was issued by the Lebanese government. They obtained the entire data since more than four years. There was some side that has disallowed Lebanon's investigations," attorney Yasser Hassan said from The Hague, where the STL is holding in absentia trials for Hezbollah members accused of the killing of former PM Rafic Hariri.



"We cannot contact the accused and we cannot learn their opinion. This is the first individual killing operation," he added.



He also wondered why a special tribunal was not formed when Kamal Jumblatt, Rashid Karami, Wissam Hassan, and Mohammad Shatah were assassinated.



"The Security Council proved favoritism when it formed a tribunal for one individual and totally ignored those who had made crimes and massacres," he continued.



The attorney also demanded the Prosecution to tell if there are other suspects.


========================R.A.H.