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Lebanon ex-security chiefs held
 Lebanon has arrested the head of the president's guard and three ex-security chiefs as suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. They are being questioned by a United Nations team investigating the bombing which killed 21 people last February. All four - including the former head of general security Jamil al-Sayyed - have close ties to Syria, which was widely blamed for the blast. Syria has denied any role, but has been criticised for hindering the UN probe. The UN investigator, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, is due to report his findings to the Security Council in the next few weeks. A fifth suspect, a pro-Syrian member of the Lebanese parliament, is also being sought by police.
| This is one of Assad's "what were you thinking?" moments. He must not have thought it was a big thing when he signed off on killing Hariri — just another boom in a long string of sporadic booms, just another pol moved out of the way in the stately minuet of Leb politix. Instead, he ends up losing his mini-empire and in the end will likely lose his grip on Syria. All the obfuscation and stonewalling isn't going to be enough to keep the investigation from showing the links to Syria's hard boyz, not even with UN investigators. |
BBC correspondent Kim Ghattas says the detentions constitute the first major development in the investigation into Mr Hariri's killing. In addition to Mr Sayyed, the former internal security forces head Ali al-Hajj and former military intelligence head Raymond Azar were seized in early morning raids on Tuesday. Mustafa Hamdan, the head of the presidential guard, later turned himself in to the UN investigators. The police also raided the house of a fifth person, Nasser Qandil, a former legislator and staunch Syrian ally. Mr Qandil was not at home and his wife said he was in Syria.
| ... and isn't expected back... |
Mr Sayyed was widely seen as Lebanon's most powerful security figure between the end of the civil war in 1990 and the withdrawal of Syrian forces earlier this year. He and the others resigned earlier this year after huge anti-Syrian demonstrations following Mr Hariri's assassination.
| Resigned reluctantly, we might add... |
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told reporters that Mr Mehlis had briefed him on the investigation, and he decided to summon the four security chiefs "in order to question them as suspects". He has interrogated them previously. Mr Mehlis' team has no power to arrest or charge suspects, but has a co-operation agreement with the Lebanese authorities and can request action through the internal security services. Under Lebanese law, the four men can be questioned for 48 hours, after which they should be charged or released.
Posted by: Steve 2005-08-30 |
