LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Beirut has until Thursday to hand over a progress report on its efforts to arrest the four suspects wanted for assassinating Rafik Hariri, a tribunal said.
The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in investigating the 2005 assassination of Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister.
Four members of the Shiite movement Hezbollah were implicated by the tribunal in the plot. Lebanese authorities reporting to the tribunal in August said they didn't have any luck in apprehending the four suspects, prompting the tribunal to release most of the information it had on the Hezbollah members.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon told The Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon that Beirut had until Thursday to submit a progress report.
"The requests for assistance relate to measures the prosecution considers necessary to locate and arrest the four accused," the tribunal stated.
Hezbollah tried to discredit the tribunal's evidence in the case, which relies in part on cellphone activity. Hezbollah claims Israel has infiltrated much of the Lebanese telecommunications sector, making the tribunal's case dubious.
Special Tribunal for Lebanon prosecutor Daniel Bellemare told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon he would end his tenure in February, citing unspecified health reasons.
