The “principle of voluntariness”

Der Spiegel, not a stranger to scoops (fabrications?) when it comes to the Hariri tribunal, appears to have some new inside information:

In a classified letter, the prime minister [Hariri] informed the tribunal that Beirut security forces have refused to make arrests of Hezbollah members. Instead, the talk remains of the “principle of voluntariness.

In other words, Hezbollah will have to, in its own free will surrender members charged by the tribunal. So is that impossible? Not according to “intelligence agencies” the magazine sites:

Intelligence agencies have information about a meeting between Nasrallah and Hassan Mahdawi, the representative of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in Lebanon. At the meeting Nasrallah is said to have agreed “in an emergency” to allow the main suspects, Abd al-Majid Ghalush and Hajj Salim, to fall and to claim that they were manipulated by foreign intelligence agencies. Iran, known as a financial backer of Hezbollah, does not want to be named in the Hariri murder in any context, Mahdawi allegedly stated.

The question is, what do they mean by “in an emergency”. A war with Israel? A lurching into civil war? And who are those “Intelligence agencies?”

I think the Spiegl is baiting Hezbollah. Remember, the party of God has diagnosed the threat as one against its credibility and reputation, in which any flexibility is perceived as an admission of guilt. This is why it’s not giving in one inch when it comes to any member of the party. And they keep stressing this point again and again, and their leader Sayyed Nassrallah will probably do the same tonight.