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More Arrests Ensue After Qandil's Release
A Lebanese gallery owner and a Syrian man were arrested yesterday as investigation into the murder of late Premier Rafik Hariri intensifed.  UN investigators and Lebanese internal security forces raided two apartments in Beirut's southern suburbs that security sources said may have been used to plan Hariri's assassination. The source said forensic experts accompanied the officers. Following the raids, Lebanese police detained the owner of one of the apartments, Hashem Nassar, who also owns a furniture gallery in the same building. It is understood he has no official links to either the government or the armed forces. The second detainee was a Syrian national who was unidentified. Both are suspects in the assassination according to internal security sources.Judiciary sources said the investigation committee learned about the two Beirut apartments during Tuesday's questioning of Mustafa Hamdan, head Presidential Guard, Jamil Sayyed, former chief of Surete General, Ali Hajj, former Internal Security Forces chief, Raymond Azar, former army intelligence chief, and former pro-Syrian MP Nasser Qandil. Qandil was released from custody early Wednesday. It was unclear who provided the information. The four suspects were transferred yesterday from the UN investigation team's headquarters in Monteverde, Mount Lebanon, to ISF headquarters in central Beirut. The four are now being held in separate cells for what security officials said was "investigative necessity." Elias Eid, Lebanon's investigating magistrate into the case is expected to question the four again before determining whether to release them or place them under formal arrest. He may also decide to place them under house arrest. But it has emerged that Eid will not begin questioning the suspects until the Lebanese judiciary finishes translating the investigation reports from the UN investigation committee, which a source from the Lebanese Justice Ministry told The Daily Star would take "a couple of days." Under Lebanese law the suspects must be formally charged within 48 hours or released, but Eid has the power to detain them for a further 48 hours before deciding their fate. As the UN team was questioning the four suspects on Tuesday, the Hariri owned Al-Mustaqbal newspaper claimed the four had "held meetings to prepare for the crime" in a Beirut apartment. The newspaper added: "They also inspected the site of the attack the day before and afterward tampered with evidence at the scene to put investigators on the wrong track." The arrest of the suspects has intensified international pressure on the Syrian government as well as Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, since all four suspects are close allies to both Damascus and Lahoud. Following a closed UN Security Council briefing late Tuesday night, U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN Anne Patterson said that Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari said Syria was still failing to cooperate with the probe, despite fresh commitments from President Bashar Assad that the UN was free to question "any Syrian official." Syria has not commented officially on Tuesday's detentions in Lebanon or yesterday's detention of a Syrian national, but the daily political commentary by the Syrian-state-run Radio of Damascus denied any involvement by Syria in the murder. The commentary said: "Syria will cooperate with the UN committee. It is in its best interest to do so." Meanwhile, Lahoud, who met with Justice Minister Charles Rizk yesterday, said "everybody wants the truth to be revealed in Hariri's murder." But, indirectly defending the suspects, Lahoud said: "We want a truth that would not be affected by the internationally-created political and media climates, climates which have been created since the first moment of the crime and for well-known reasons." He added: "Those climates neither restore the country's national interests, nor protect it from plots aimed at destabilizing the nation's unity and territorial integrity." Meanwhile, Mehlis, whose commission has rounded up about 240 people for questioning since April, is set to hold a news conference in Beirut today, as UN divers, aided by Lebanese security forces, continued their scanning of the coastal area near the bomb site. There were reports that more parts of the Mitsubishi truck that was used in the assassination of Hariri were found, but they were not confirmed. Posted by: Fred 2005-09-01 |
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