Rafiq Hariri

Hariri was born on 1 November 1944 to a modest Sunni Muslim family in the Lebanese port city of Sidon. He had two siblings (brother Shafic and sister Bahia). He attended elementary and secondary school in Sidon, and graduated in business administration from Beirut Arab University.

In 1965, Hariri went to Saudi Arabia to work. There, he taught for a short period of time before moving to the construction industry. In 1978, he gained Saudi Arabian citizenship, in addition to his Lebanese citizenship.

In 1969, Hariri established Ciconest, a small subcontracting firm, which soon went out of business. He then went into business with the French construction firm Oger for the construction of a hotel in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia, the timely construction of which earned him praise from King Khaled. Hariri took over Oger, forming Saudi Oger, which became the main construction firm used by the Saudi Royal family for all their important developments. As a result, a few years after his first contract with King Khaled, Hariri had become a multi-billionaire.

Having accumulated his wealth, Hariri started a number of philanthropic projects, including the building of educational facilities in Lebanon. His first initiative in Lebanon was the Islamic Association for Culture and Education, which he founded in 1979. The association was later renamed the Hariri Foundation. Hariri became progressively more embroiled in politics. His appeals to the United Nations and services as an emissary to the Saudi Royal family won him international recognition on the political stage for his humanitarian efforts.

In 1982, Hariri donated $12 million to Lebanese victims of the 1978 South Lebanon conflict and helped clean up Beirut's streets with his company's money and contributed to early reconstruction efforts during lulls in the Lebanon war. Said to have heavily financed opposing militias during the war, his former deputy Najah Wakim later accused him of helping to destroy downtown Beirut to rebuild it again and make billions of dollars in the process. After the conflict, he acted as an envoy of the Saudi royal family to Lebanon. He laid the groundwork that led to the 1989 Taif Accord, which Saudi Arabia organised to bring the warring factions together. Taif put an end to the civil war, building goodwill for Hariri politically. While acting as the Saudi envoy to Lebanon, he spent more time in Damascus than in Beirut where he ingratiated himself with the Assad regime; he had a new presidential palace built in Damascus as a gift to the Syrian dictator but Assad didn't use it personally.

Hariri married twice. He had six children. In 1965, he married an Iraqi woman, Nidal Bustani, who is the mother of his three sons; Bahaa (born 1967), who is a businessman, Saad (born 1970), who succeeded his father as leader of the future movement, and Houssam—who died in a traffic accident in the US in the late 1980s. They divorced. He married his second spouse, Nazik Audi, in 1976 and she is the mother of three of Hariri's children: Ayman, Fahd and Hind.

From 1982 until his death, Hariri owned 2–8a Rutland Gate, a large house in London's Knightsbridge district. The house was gifted to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Sultan bin Abdulaziz, after Hariri's assassination.

Hariri returned to Lebanon in the early 1980s as a wealthy man and began to build a name for himself by making large donations and contributions to various groups in Lebanon. However, he continued to serve as a political advisor to Prince Bandar bin Sultan in 1983. He was implanted as the Saudis' strong man following the collapse of the PLO and the paucity of any viable Sunni leadership in the country as well as a response to the rising power of the Shiite militia Amal. As a former Saudi diplomatic representative, he played a significant role in constructing the 1990 Taif Agreement that ended Lebanon's sixteen-year civil war. In 1992, Hariri became the first post-civil war prime minister of Lebanon under president Elias Hrawi. In addition, he was the minister of finance. After the 1996 elections he also took on the role of minister of post and telecommunications. Hariri put the country back on the financial map through the issuing of Eurobonds and won plaudits from the World Bank for his plan to borrow reconstruction money as the country's debt grew to become the largest per capita in the world. Between 1992 and 1996 the public debt grew from $3 billion to $9 billion. His first premiership lasted until 1998, and Hariri was replaced by Salim Hoss as prime minister. In fact, as a result of the power struggle between Hariri and newly elected president Émile Lahoud, he left office.

In October 2000, Hariri was again appointed prime minister, replacing Salim Hoss, and formed the cabinet. In September 2004, Hariri defended UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which called for "all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon." On 20 October 2004, his second term ended when he resigned from office. Omar Karami succeeded him as prime minister.

Hariri and Lebanon's political environment

Amid the political crisis brought on by the extension of President Émile Lahoud's term, Hariri resigned as prime minister, saying: "I have... submitted the resignation of the government, and I have declared that I will not be a candidate to head the (next) government."

During a BBC interview in 2001, Hariri was asked by Tim Sebastian why he refused to hand over members of Hezbollah that were accused by America of being terrorists. He responded that Hezbollah were the ones protecting Lebanon against the Israeli occupation and called for implementation of passed United Nations resolutions against Israel.

During the interview, Sebastian also accused Hariri of making the American coalition in the war on terrorism worthless and asked if he was ready for the consequences of his refusal, reminding him that George W. Bush had said: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Hariri replied that he had hoped there would be no consequences, but would deal with them if they arrive. He also said that he opposed the killing of all humans – Israeli, Palestinian, Syrian or Lebanese – and believed in dialogue as a solution. He further went on to say that Syria would have to stay in Lebanon for protection of Lebanon until they are no longer needed and Lebanon asks them to leave.

Criticism

August 11, 1994, the Hariri government issued a ban on organized demonstrations, relying on the Lebanese Army to enforce the decree. According to Human Rights Watch, following the demonstration ban, on September 13, 1994, "army troops used force to disperse demonstrations, with disastrous results: seven men and one woman were killed and about forty other peaceful demonstrators injured." On 17 September 1996, Information Minister Farid Makari ordered a ban on the broadcasting of news programs. This was followed eight days later by a government decree ordering the closure of Lebanon's 150 privately owned radio stations and 50 TV stations. Licenses were then issued to Hariri's Future Television, the Christian-owned Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI), Murr Television (MTV) owned by the brother of Interior Minister Michel Murr, and the National Broadcasting Network (NBN), set up by Nabih Berri. The radio stations which were given licenses were Hariri's Orient Radio, Berri's NBN, and the Lebanese Forces’s Voice of Free Lebanon. The following year, however, "the cabinet handed out licenses to one television station and eight radio stations, including Hizballah's Al-Manar TV, Voice of Lebanon (formerly owned by the Phalange party), and Voice of the People (Communist Party)." These groups had been previously excluded from licensing in September 1996. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the ongoing Syrian occupation and military presence in Lebanon made it difficult for Lebanese media to criticize the Syrian regime, adding that "Syria's continued dominant political and military influence" created an atmosphere of self-censorship.

Criticism

Hariri was accused of corruption, which plagued Lebanon during the Syrian occupation. The Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut's Central District (French: Société Libanaise pour le Développement et la Reconstruction du Centre-ville de Beyrouth), more commonly known by the French-derived acronym "Solidere", expropriated most property in the central business district of Beirut, compensating each owner with shares in the company which were worth as little as 15% of the property's value. As the primary shareholder of the company, Hariri and his business associates profited from this project. Moreover, it was reported by Middle East International in November 1996 that $26 million had been embezzled from the Lebanese Ministry of Finance while Hariri was in office. Hariri was accused of allowing kickbacks from public spending to enrich government figures. For instance, contracts for the import of petroleum were awarded to the two sons of President Elias Hrawi.