The focus of this paper is to address the problems concerning the subject-matter
jurisdiction of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). It discusses the ratione
subjecate materiae of the international tribunals, and tribunals of international
cha
racter, in contrast to the STL, which is contrary to the other tribunals in
which the ratione subjecate materiae is limited to national crimes under the
Lebanese Criminal Code (LCC). The paper will also examine the crime of
terrorism as it is stated in the LCC by analysing the actus reus, and mens rea of
the crime, and in doing, so will conclude that terrorism is not yet considered an
international crime. Although the mental and material elements of crimes against
humanity are met in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, (and other attacks are
included within the subject-matter jurisdiction of the STL), these crimes were
not classified as such. This appears to be due to the will of the Security Council
(SC) to sever the STL’s authority to prosecute other atrocities committed on the
territory of Lebanon in recent years, especially serious war crimes and crimes
against humanity which have been committed on that same territory in the period
of mid-2006 during the Israeli aggression on Lebanon. In addition, there has
been the positioning of the institution (STL) generally as one that is a national
tribunal with international features, rather than a truly international tribunal.
This, in itself, may lead to complicate the mission undertaken by the STL
Prosecutor, and will do little to assist any of the issues surrounding ‘Chain of
Command’ immunity regarding Heads of State and other Senior Officials
