Rafiq al-Hariri

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Rafiq al-Hariri in 2001

Rafiq Baha'eddin al-Hariri ( Arabic رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري, DMG Rafīq Bahāʾ ad-Dīn al-Ḥarīrī ; * November 1, 1944 in Sidon ; † February 14, 2005 in Beirut ) was an entrepreneur , self-made millionaire and Lebanese politician . His investments made a significant contribution to the reconstruction of Beirut in the 1980s. From 1992 to 1998 and between 2000 and 2004 he led a total of five governments as Prime Minister . A few months after he resigned from office in protest against the political influence of neighboring Syria , he was killed in a bomb attack on his convoy of vehicles .

Although Syria denies any involvement in the attack, the reports of the commission of inquiry set up by the United Nations indicate that members of Syrian and Lebanese secret services, possibly even the highest levels of government, were involved in the attack or at least knew about it in advance. The investigation is still ongoing.

biography

Hariri was born in 1944 in the Lebanese port city of Sidon. He grew up with his brother Schafiq and his sister Bahiya (also Bahia) as the son of a Sunni family. After finishing school, he studied business administration at the Arab University in Beirut.

In 1965, however, he left Lebanon to work in Saudi Arabia for a company that was active in the field of plant engineering. There he married Nazik Audeh in the same year. Only 4 years later he founded his own plant construction company, CICONEST , with which he was able to benefit considerably from the oil price boom of the 1970s. In a relatively short period of time he gained considerable wealth and in 1978 was made a citizen and ambassador of the Kingdom to London by the Saudis' royal family . Hariri acquired the Saudi Oger company in 1979 and founded Oger International based in Paris, but soon began to be interested in banks, the oil business and telecommunications.

Starting in 1982, he donated several million dollars to Lebanese war victims, a variety of other charitable causes and began to invest heavily in the reconstruction of Lebanon. In 1992 he returned to Beirut and founded the television station Future TV and his own daily newspaper al-Mustaqbal ( The Future ) in 1993 .

During the civil war , Hariri had been politically committed behind the scenes to an early end of the war. In 1989 he was involved in the Taif Agreement between the warring parties that led to peace in 1990. Since he belonged to the group of Sunnis who, according to the Lebanese constitution of 1999, provided the head of government to maintain religious parity , he was able to stand for election in 1992. As Prime Minister, he formed his first government on October 22, 1992, but resigned from office in 1998 because of massive political influence from Syria . Shortly before, Syria had succeeded in paving the way for the then Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Émile Lahoud, by amending the Lebanese constitution. Otherwise, his candidacy would not have been possible directly from the military office, but only after a three-year waiting period. In 2000, Hariri ran again and formed a second government. This too ended in 2004 with his resignation after the six-year term of office of the president was extended by 3 years (until 2007) by constitutional amendment under renewed Syrian pressure in favor of Lahoud.

In 1994 he initiated the project to rebuild the city center of Beirut, which had been completely destroyed by the war, again using large sums of money from his private assets. Historic buildings were also demolished. Megaprojects such as the Beirut Souks and other luxury properties have been built in the city. His company Solidere was not only significantly involved in the reconstruction of this city center, large parts of the city now belong to the Hariri clan. This part of the city is popularly known as "Hariri City".

In February 2001 and November 2002, Hariri led the Lebanese delegation to the Paris Conferences on the Future of Lebanon. The conferences led u. a. to support Lebanon through the World Bank . However, his policy also led to a sharp increase in national debt, which resulted in a rise in interest rates and thus a negative impact on economic growth. His opponents accused him of both increasing corruption and the mixing of his political interests with those of Lebanon's most influential entrepreneur for his countless companies and holdings.

He was killed in a car bomb attack on February 14, 2005 in Beirut. He left his wife Nazik and seven children.

The assassination

View from the west of the attack

The detonation occurred in the Minet el-Hosn district on February 14, 2005 , when Hariri's car convoy was driving along the Corniche , Beirut's coastal road. The bomb also devastated a branch of the UK HSBC bank where the bomb was placed. The Phenicia International Hotel opposite was also damaged. A total of 23 people died in the attack. More than 100 people were injured.

In a video, a man said that a group called an-Nusra wa l-Jihad fi Bilad asch-Scham (in German: Support and Jihad in the land of Greater Syria ) had killed Hariri because he was an “agent of the Saudi Arabian regime " has been. From the beginning, there were considerable doubts about the authenticity of the recording and the reasons.

The spokesman on the video was later identified as the Palestinian refugee Ahmad Taisir Abu Adas by Lebanese security forces .

Kofi Annan , the Secretary General of the United Nations , announced in February 2005 that a UN commission would be sent to collect the facts.

UN investigation

Under the leadership of Peter Fitzgerald, this commission began work on February 25, 2005 and submitted its final report on March 24, 2005. Responsibility for the climate in which the attack took place has been assigned to the Syrian government and the security services. However, a larger international investigation is required to determine the perpetrators.

View of the attack from the east

Then the continued UN Security Council on 7 April 2005 with the UN Resolution 1595 (2005) , the International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) as an independent international commission based in Lebanon. Personally commissioned by Kofi Annan, it was managed by the Berlin Public Prosecutor Detlev Mehlis on May 20, 2005 . Mehlis then submitted a first report on October 20, 2005 and a second on December 10, 2005. It then appears to be clear that the attack is based on a broad conspiracy by Syrian and pro-Syrian Lebanese forces.

Three Lebanese intelligence generals and the head of the presidential guard were arrested on the recommendation of the commission of inquiry. The group of suspects extended to the highest political circles in Lebanon and Syria.

The Syrian side rejects the allegations as politically motivated. The Mehlis report is a political statement based on allegations made by witnesses known for their hostility to Syria.

At the end of December 2005, Detlev Mehlis resigned as head of the investigation. On January 11, 2006, the Belgian Serge Brammertz was appointed as his successor as UN special investigator . The mandate of the Commission was extended on March 27, 2007 by resolution 1748 (2007) to June 15, 2008.

tribunal

On May 30, 2007, the Security Council passed resolution 1757 (2007) with 10 votes , which establishes the tribunal under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations if Lebanon does not constitute the special court itself by June 10. On March 1, 2009, the special tribunal for Lebanon was established.

On June 30, 2011, the UN tribunal published the indictment. Arrest warrants were issued for four members of Hezbollah , including Mustafa Badreddin , a brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyya .

On August 18, 2020, the volatile Lebanese Salim Jamil Ajjash was found guilty. The sentence is still to be determined. Three other defendants were acquitted.

Aftermath

The protests in Lebanon continued as the so-called " Cedar Revolution ". Up to 1.5 million people demonstrated peacefully against the Syrian occupation of the country, ultimately forcing Syria to make concessions and, above all, to later withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

Hariri's political legacy went to his son Saad Hariri , who, like his father, was Prime Minister of Lebanon from December 18, 2016 to October 29, 2019 .

Hariri enjoyed a great reputation among the Lebanese people. A memorial was erected in Beirut's Central District to which countless people paid their respects, and on June 22, 2005, Beirut International Airport was renamed Rafic Hariri International Airport in his honor.

family

All of Hariri's children have Lebanese and Saudi Arabian citizenship (including his son Saad Hariri ), with some of the sons only specifying Saudi Arabian citizenship.

The sons Bahaa and Saad (Saadedine) are the children of Rafik from his first marriage to an Iraqi woman. After divorcing her, he married Nazek Audeh, who also brought two children into the marriage - Ouday / Oudai and Joumana. Ayman, Fahd (Fahed) and their daughter Hind are children of the two. Another son, Hussameddine, died in a car accident in the United States in 1991.

Although Bahaa Hariri is the oldest of Rafik's children, the second oldest son, Saad Hariri , is the main heir in politics. After an initial term of office from 2009 to 2011, he has been Prime Minister of Lebanon again since 2016. He is also General Director of Saudi Oger and thus holds the highest position in the core company of the family empire, which he successfully ran alongside his own, successful company during his father's lifetime.

Bahaa is Vice President of Saudi Oger Ltd. and takes care of the real estate sector. He also sits on the board of several investment firms and banks in Switzerland and Lebanon and runs the family-owned Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal. He also has shares in other media and owns three Lebanese football clubs. He has thus taken over a major part of the administration and management of the family business.

Ayman Hariri is the family's "technology freak" and after graduating from Georgetown University Washington, DC , where Bahaa and Saad also studied, founded an internet security company with fellow student Scott Birnbaum (Byte and Switch / Epok). He is also active in the South African telephone company Cell C and takes care of the telephone sector at Saudi Oger, as well as the family-owned channel Future TV, which is, however, for sale. He is currently taking care of his brother Saad's duties at Saudi Oger on behalf of his brother, thus keeping his back free for politics.

It is not known whether Fahd Hariri studied, but the youngest son Hariris also takes care of Future TV and has opened a furniture design studio in Paris. He also performs important tasks at Saudi Oger.

Hind Hariri studied economics at Beirut's American University and after graduating (which she did shortly after her father's death), she took care of her brother's election campaign and, together with her mother, of the family's charities. According to Forbes ' list of the richest people in the world , she was considered the youngest billionaire in 2006 . However, she lost this title again in 2007 to Albert Prinz von Thurn und Taxis .

Bahaa lives with his wife and children in Switzerland, Saad with his second wife and three children in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah and Riyadh), Ayman with his wife and child in Riyadh and Fahd and Hind (both unmarried, no children) with their mother in Paris. Like Bahia Hariri, Ouday and Joumana still live in Lebanon (in the Koreitem district of Beirut). The last Hariri on Saudi Oger's board of directors is Rafik Hariri's cousin Mohammed.

Bibliography

Web links

Commons : Rafic Hariri  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deutschlandfunk reported on December 27, 2011 at 7.15 p.m. in its feature Millionaires and Militias. Market economy radical in Beirut. From Achim Nuhr very critical about al-Hariri and his company Solidere.
  2. ↑ Guest contribution by Pierre Jarawan: How the Hariri family shaped Lebanon . In: sueddeutsche.de . November 27, 2017, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed March 29, 2018]).
  3. ↑ BBC News : UN approves Hariri murder court , May 30, 2007
  4. ↑ UN tribunal hands over indictment in the Hariri trial. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . June 30, 2011, accessed June 30, 2011 .
  5. ↑ tagesschau.de: Hariri assassination: alleged Hezbollah member guilty. Retrieved August 18, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Rafic Hariri Tribute ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) by Ricardo Karam
  7. ↑ FOXNews : Hariri Helped Rebuild Lebanon , February 15, 2005
  8. ↑ www.saudioger.com ( Memento of March 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Board of Directors
  9. ↑ GMX.net , The ten richest people in the world 2006
  10. ↑ Spiegel online : Super-rich ranking: The world's youngest billionaire is a German , March 9, 2007
predecessor Office successor

Rachid Solh
Selim Hoss 		Prime Minister of Lebanon
October 31, 1992–2. December 1998
October 23, 2000–21. October 2004
Selim Hoss
Omar Karamé
personal data
SURNAME Hariri, Rafiq al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES al-Hariri, Rafiq Baha'eddin (full name); رفيق بهاءالدين الحريري (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lebanese Prime Minister
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Sidon
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 2005
Place of death Beirut