Further to the victory of the so called Hizbullah on the Israelian's army in 2006, a modified version of revolutionary courts has emerged in Lebanon manifested by the performance of the military court. This court has been classified by researchers as a new paradigm for political trials which combines between the Nuremberg trials and the revolutional tribunals. The Nuremberg trials in Germany had the role to prosecute the German officers after the victory of the allied forces after the so called World War II, whereas the revolutionary tribunal in its begining in 1793 forbaded prisoners to employ counsel for their defense, suppressed the hearing of witnesses, and made death the sole penalty. Both types of trials were political and violated the international law.

The Lebanese military court paradigm:
After the assassination of the ex prime minister Rafic al Hariri in 2005, the Syrian troops have withdrawn from Lebanon. In 2006 the Israelian troops were defeated and in 2008 the so called Hizbullah invaded Beirut to topple the regime in leaving a death toll higher than 107.

Comparison with Nuremberg trials and revolutional courts:
The July war's victory in 2006 and the smooth revolution on May 7, 2008 have triggered the so called Hizbullah to rule a court which applies the combination of Nuremberg trials and the revolutionary tribunals' models on all suspected citizens to collaborate with the Israelians. This new combination has become flagrant in 2010 further to an earlier leakage from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to indict the so called Hizbullah to be involved in the assassination of Hariri.
The new paradigm of trials gives the defendant the option to employ a lawyer, to call for witnesses but the court doesn't consider neither the defense nor the witnesses. The court interrogates the indictee but doesn't consider what he says. The indictee is pre-sentenced by a TV station known by al Manar and the court sentences are according to the size of media campaign the so called Hizbullah defines. An oppression case becomes prominent in Lebanon which is a typical example of political trials. It's the case of telecom engineer Tarek Rabaa who has been detained on the same day of sentencing Ali Mantach to death on July 12, 2010. Tarek Rabaa has been targeted to retaliate from Tarik al Jadidah district in Beirut and to decredibilize the Call Data Registry used by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Many defendants suspected for spying on the so called Hizbullah were sentenced to death by general Nizar Khalil, the ex president of the military court, while others prisoners arrested by the Lebanese securities were released after few months of detention further to the intervention of the so called Hizbullah also, leaving a controversy at the political level in Lebanon but with no impact on the court performance. Hundred of political trial cases were registered where the defendant was sentenced without solid evidence or confession.

As a conclusion, the military court in Lebanon is ruled by the so called Hizbullah and becomes a powerful tool used to rule Lebanon and to revenge from their opponents. The coming articles will list some real politcal trials as a proof on what has been said herein.

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