Syria Will Be ‘Prosecuted,' Slain Premier's Son Says

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria will be "punished and prosecuted" for the murder of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, his son predicted yesterday.

Saad Hariri was speaking after the United Nations voted to create a tribunal to investigate the killing. The decision was an emotional triumph for the younger Mr. Hariri, who believes Damascus orchestrated the February 14, 2005 bombing which killed his father and 22 others in Beirut.

"We watched it on television. Everyone clapped and we had tears in our eyes," the 37 year-old heir to the assassinated billionaire told the Daily Telegraph.

He spoke from an armchair next to his father's desk in the family headquarters in central Beirut. Neither he nor anyone else ever sits at his father's desk, behind which the dead premier's portrait now hangs.

Across Lebanon, similar pictures hang from doors and windows, or adorn the sides of entire buildings — testament to the widespread devotion Mr. Hariri inspired.

"We have been through Hell," Saad Hariri said yesterday. "This [tribunal] is not going to bring back my father. But it brings a kind of peace to my mind that those who commit such atrocities will be punished."

The creation of a tribunal has been at the core of months of tension between the pro-Western government in Beirut and the Hezbollah-led opposition that has erupted into street clashes.

The country's Parliament has until June 10 to ratify a Lebanese-based tribunal, but with politics deadlocked between pro- and anti-Syrian forces, it seems that the new court — in a neutral location — will effectively be imposed by the United Nations after that date.

Although Syrian intelligence has been implicated by the UN in its investigation into the killing, it rejects the accusations. The Syrian president, Bashar Al-Assad, has vowed not to hand over any Syrian citizens to the tribunal.