Murder will not derail tribunal

THE United Nations Security Council yesterday said it would not let the murder of a Lebanese anti-Syrian politician derail plans for a tribunal into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Antoine Ghanim, a member of the Maronite Phalange party, and at least three others died when his car exploded in a Christian suburb of Beirut yesterday.

French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, president of the council, said the bombing was a crude attempt to scupper the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is being set up to prosecute those responsible for Hariri’s death.