A United Nations tribunal investigating the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 has described a call by Hezbollah for its work to be boycotted as a 'deliberate attempt to obstruct justice'.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has urged a boycott of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, warning that co-operation amounted to an attack on the Shia group, which has close links with Iran.
He also alleged that the probe was passing on information to Israel.
A spokeswoman for The Hague-based tribunal said it would continue to rely on full co-operation by the Lebanese government and the support of the international community in fulfilling its mandate.
Lebanon is facing a political crisis on the issue amid reports it is set to accuse members of Hezbollah over the murder of Mr Hariri, who was killed with 22 other people in a bombing in Beirut in February 2005.
Hezbollah has accused the UN of interfering in Lebanese affairs and called instead for a local investigation.
'Why would the investigators go to a clinic that is frequented by the daughters, sisters and wives of Hezbollah leaders?' Mr Nasrallah asked. 'How are our women's medical files necessary to the investigation?
'We have long known that every piece of information given to the tribunal was passed on to Western intelligence, but we were silent,' he added.
'Why were we silent? Solely to avoid being told we were obstructing the tribunal, out of respect for Hariri and his family and others.
'But we now have reached a point where we can no longer keep silent for anyone's sake,' Mr Nasrallah said.
