The Special Tribunal for Lebanon ("STL‟ or the "Tribunal‟) is an internationalised or "hybrid‟ international criminal tribunal established by an agreement between Lebanon and the UN.
In the aftermath of the killing of the Lebanese PM, Rafik Hariri, in an explosion in Beirut on 14 February 2005, the Lebanese Government requested international assistance from the UN, which came in the form of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission ("UNIIIC‟), established under United Nations Security Council ("UNSC‟) Resolution 1595 (2005). It was designed to assist the Lebanese authorities in their investigation of all aspects of the terrorist act, including helping identify all involved in committing the atrocity.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, was a tribunal of international character that applied Lebanese criminal law under the authority of the United Nations.

The Tribunal officially opened on 1 March 2009 and had primacy over the national courts of Lebanon. The Tribunal had its seat in Leidschendam, on the outskirts of The Hague, Netherlands, and a field office in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Its official languages were Arabic, French, and English. The Tribunal is unique among international criminal tribunals in that it could hold trials in absentia, and it was the first to deal with terrorism as a distinct crime. The Tribunal's eleven judges, a combination of Lebanese and international judges, were appointed by the UN Secretary-General for a renewable term of three years.
Following its legal establishment, the Secretary-General of the United Nations announced on 17 August 2007 that the Netherlands had agreed to host the Tribunal.

The Tribunal opened its doors on 1 March 2009, taking over jurisdiction from the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC), whose mandate ended on 28 February 2009.

Dutch, English, French, German, Italian

Most of the files have been closed.