Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Friday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.

Al-Akhbar: Indictment: Assumptions without evidence

The indictment issued by Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri includes paragraphs with a primary purpose that is political and not judicial. There were also contradictions that indicate unacceptable professional failures in an institution which claims to act under the highest international standards.
“The four accused are affiliated with Hezbollah, which is a political and military organization in Lebanon. In the past, the military wing of Hezbollah was involved in terrorist acts.” This sentence is included in paragraph 59 of the indictment.

Bellemare did not mention the source upon which he based his judgment that Hezbollah is involved in terrorism. There is no international consensus or a U.N. resolution that labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization. It is the U.S. administration that had been leading a political and media campaign since the eighties to tarnish Hezbollah’s image by classifying it a terrorist organization just like the rest of the organizations taking part in resisting the Israeli war machine such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and others.

Besides, no decision has been made by a court or international judicial body or the U.N. Security Council (which established the STL) that accused Hezbollah of involvement in terrorism. On what basis did Bellemare allow himself to label Hezbollah a terrorist group?

As for describing the suspects as “Hezbollah affiliates,” there is a clear contradiction in this same paragraph: In the third part of paragraph 59 it is stated that “based on their experience, training and affiliation with Hezbollah, it is reasonable to conclude that [Mustafa] Badreddine and [Salim] Ayyash had the ability to carry out the Feb. 14 attack.” How can the accused merely be affiliated with Hezbollah then two of them turn into members?

As-Safir: Washington, Paris welcome indictment
Government faces Tuesday electricity test

As Hezbollah, with MP Hasan Fadlallah speaking on its behalf, stressed it will respond to the indictment by refuting the arguments and evidence, STL President Antonio Cassese called on Lebanese authorities to intensify efforts to arrest the four suspects, urging State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza to “submit a monthly report to the STL in this regard.”

For his part, Prime Minister Najib Mikati rushed to respond to remarks made by March 14 forces by renewing his commitment to the STL during Cabinet’s Thursday meeting in which he also put emphasis on the need to reach the truth in Hariri’s assassination away from politicization or revenge.

As the Future Movement called for a popular gathering outside Hariri’s tomb after Friday prayers , Future Movement sources stressed the need to “completely separate” between Hezbollah and Shiites, pointing out that the Future Movement insist that Hariri’s killers are “individuals and not groups or parties.”
While March 14 forces announced it had adopted the indictment against Hezbollah, Washington and Paris rushed to renew support for the STL.

Ad-Diyar: Aoun’s electricity bill and threats of resignation upset key allies

The government met under Prime Minister Najib Mikati yesterday to discuss the key $4.5 billion electricity plan – with of which the first phase will cost $1.2 billion. A dispute broke out over the proposal of allocating $1.2 billion to the energy minister to facilitate the electricity deals in a project that would reach $4.5 billion and about setting up a regulatory body, a demand made by Cabinet.

Energy Minister Jibran Bassil, along with ministers from Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, rejected the government’s spending restrictions. Mikati, for his part, insisted he would not allow any spending to go uncontrolled.
Here we get to the point of conflict: Aoun’s electricity bill and his insistence to pass it the way it pleases him and pleases his son-in-law Jibran Bassil, in addition to a threat by Aoun to withdraw his ministers from the government, upset key Aoun allies.

As a result, Mikati decided to postpone debate on the electricity bill for a mini-Cabinet meeting to be held Monday in an effort to prepare an acceptable outlook for approval at a Cabinet session scheduled in Beiteddine on Tuesday.