|
|
|
Last Updated: Nov 2nd, 2009 - 17:32:57 |
(Middle East Online) UNITED NATIONS - A UN report on Monday pointed to fresh evidence further implicating senior Syrian officers in the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and raised doubts about Damascus' cooperation in the probe.
The 25-page report by chief investigator Delev Mehlis was delivered to the UN Security Council and made public only hours after a car bomb killed prominent anti-Syrian lawmaker and journalist Gibran Tueni in suburban Beirut.
Tueni, 48, was killed along with three other people hours after the Christian MP returned to Lebanon from France, where he had taken refuge fearing his life was in danger.
"In late 0ctober 2005, the commission was approached by another new witness, who has submitted a comprehensive and coherent statement regarding plans to assassinate Mr. Hariri," the Mehlis report said. "The witness has been assessed to be credible and the information he has submitted to be reliable.
"The statement from the witness strengthens the evidence confirmed to date against the Lebanese officers in custody, as well as high-ranked Syrian officers," it added.
In a previous interim report released in October, the Mehlis panel had already found evidence that senior Syrian and Lebanese security officials were implicated in the murder of Hariri in Beirut last February.
Its latest report also raised questions about Syria's commitment to get to the bottom of Hariri's slaying through its own judicial investigation.
"The commission relies on the full and unconditional cooperation of the Syrian authorities in the next period of its enquiries, so that all aspects of the case under investigation may be ascertained," it added.
The US envoy to the UN John Bolton called the report "very disturbing".
"Even though some Syrian cooperation has been forthcoming, the substance of the Mehlis report shows a failure by the government of Syria to abide by (UN Security Council) resolution 1636 (which demanded full Syrian cooperation with the UN probe)," he noted.
Bolton cited two examples in the report which he said illustrated Syrian "obstruction of justice".
One paragraph in the report said that statements made by two Syrian suspects indicated that "all Syrian intelligence documents concerning Lebanon had been burned" and it also noted "that no material regarding the assassination of Mr. Hariri had been found in Syrian intelligence archives."
Bolton also pointed to remarks in the report on the case of Syrian former intelligence agent Hassam Taher Hassam, who last month recanted his statement implicating the brother and brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad in Hariri's slaying.
The report said that the commission panel had received "credible information" that prior to his public statement on Syrian state television recanting his testimony, "Syrian officials had arrested and threatened some of Mr Hassam's close relatives in Syria."
"Preliminary investigation leads to a conclusion that Mr Hassam is being manipulated by the Syrian authorities," the report said.
"This is not cooperation. This is obstruction of justice," Bolton said.
Bolton spoke to reporters shortly before the Security Council adopted a French-drafted statement condemning "in the strongest terms" the Tueni slaying.
Meanwhile the Lebanese government met in emergency session after the killing and voted to call for international probes into the murders of Hariri, Tueni and more than a dozen other bombings targeting anti-Syrian figures over the past year.
Five cabinet members representing the Shiite Amal-Hezbollah coalition protested the decision by announcing they would suspend their participation in the government until further notice.
Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April under international pressure following Hariri's murder. Damascus has insisted it has been falsely accused of orchestrating the killing.
Mehlis, who handed over his findings to UN chief Kofi Annan in New York Sunday, was to brief the Security Council on his report here Tuesday before addressing a press conference.
France's UN envoy Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said that after Mehlis's briefing he would circulate a draft resolution approving Lebanon's request for a six-month extension of the UN enquiry panel's mandate, which expires Thursday. He said he expected a vote on the draft Wednesday.
As a result of the October UN enquiry report, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1636 demanding that Syria fully cooperate with the investigation and threatening international sanctions if it did not comply.
Mehlis has indicated that he will step down when his six-month mandate expires Thursday to return to work as a magistrate in Germany.
Top of Page
Post an instant comment or a suggestion to the above article or news
Note: You can use the above link to form a new discussion forum, place your opinion and discuss events, politics, articles, environment, fashion, health, internet, search engines, marketing, movies, music, religion and any other topic.
|
|
|
|
Submit Articles
Author Login