 The Syrian president has rejected a UN request to be interviewed as part of an inquiry into the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, last year. Damascus told the UN commission that the request to meet Bashar al-Assad violates the country's sovereignty, diplomatic sources said on Saturday.
| Strange, not a word about the national dignity. |
A spokeswoman for the UN investigation confirmed that Syria had replied to the request to meet President al-Assad and Farouq al-Shara, the foreign minister, among other officials, but refused to elaborate. Diplomats had said earlier this month that Syria had agreed to allow the commission to meet al-Shara. Al-Assad, in an interview with Egyptian weekly newspaper El Osboa, hinted that he was immune from questioning by UN investigators. The inquiry has implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the killing of al-Hariri and 22 others in a bombing in Beirut last February. |