The scene after a car bomb exploded in Beirut on February 14th, 2005, killing former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others. Well, my lasting impression of the judgment in the case of Ayyash et al – on the verge of becoming the world’s first billion-dollar court case – is one of extraordinary naivete. The UN put its estimated cost at $120 million; instead it has cost more than $800 million and may yet become “the world’s first billion-dollar court case”. Former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri outside the Lebanese parliament minutes before an explosion killed him and 21 others, in Beirut, Lebanon in 2005. File photograph: AP PhotoWhat does all this say about international justice – or, perhaps more accurately, about internationally funded justice?

Source: The Irish Times August 27, 2020 00:00 UTC