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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| D-Day set for four suspects in Hariri case | |
| 2009-04-19 | |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] A United Nations special court's prosecutor has until April 27 to recommend whether to release four generals held over the 2005 murder of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said Friday. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) judge, Daniel Fransen of Belgium, instructed prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to give his grounds, within the next 10 days, for their release or continued detention, Najjar said.
"Bellemare had asked for 21 days (from April 15) to give a recommendation due to the large number of files and papers which he has received from the Lebanese judiciary," the minister said. "But Fransen has set a shorter deadline." On April 8 the STL, which began work on March 1 and is based in The Hague, said that Lebanon -- as instructed -- had supplied a list of those detained over Hariri's assassination to the tribunal charged with trying the suspects. But a Lebanese investigating judge earlier this month lifted arrest warrants against the four generals jailed since 2005 in connection with the murder. However, the judge also ordered that the four remain in jail pending a decision by the STL on their fate. The generals, who have not been charged, are the former head of the presidential guard, Mustafa Hamdan, security services director Jamil Sayyed, domestic security chief Ali Hajj and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar. The huge Feb. 14, 2005 bomb blast on the Beirut seafront killed Hariri and 22 others, stirring a political crisis and leading to the withdrawal of Syrian troops in Lebanon after a 29-year presence. A U.N. investigative commission said there was evidence that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were linked to Hariri's killing. Damascus consistently denied any involvement. | |
| Posted by:Fred |