Hariri’s son calls for restraint ahead of UN-back court’s verdict in his father’s assassination

Bahaa Hariri, the son of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, has called on the Lebanese people to exercise restraint and avoid angry reactions as the UN-backed international tribunal in the Netherlands prepares to announce its verdict in the 2005 assassination of his father who was killed in a roadside bombing with 21 others.

“We call on the Lebanese people to exercise the highest levels of self-control and to refrain from unhelpful angry reactions, because one of the most important commandments of the martyr Rafic Hariri is for us to build Lebanon and preserve the human being,” Hariri said in a statement issued by his media office.

“The aspiration to reveal the truth about the assassination of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri prompts us all, his children and admirers of his legacy, to preserve Lebanon, the state and society,” it added.

Hariri stressed on the need to end corruption, saying: “As we experience the people’s pain and the consequences of corruption and lack of sovereignty that led to the Beirut port disaster, we affirm the need to restore the homeland from the corrupt, and systematic destruction of Lebanon in all its symbols and forms.”

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More than 200 people were killed, 6,000 were injured and some 300,000 made homeless after a massive explosion in Beirut port ripped through the capital on 4 August. The blast destroyed parts of the city and intensified the economic and political distress which has engulfed Lebanon for months.

The explosion took place just days before the UN court was due to issue its verdict on Hariri’s assassination, this was postponed as a result and is expected to be released today.