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UN Hariri Report Politically Biased: Syria
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Mehlis, left, accused Damascus of blocking and misleading investigations into Harir's killing. (Reuters).
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DAMASCUS,
October 21, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Syria
rejected Friday, October 21, findings of a UN report said to be
linking Damascus to the killing of former Lebanese prime minister
Rafiq Hariri, saying the document was "politically biased".
"It
is a political statement against Syria based on allegations by
witnesses known for their hostility to Syria," Syrian Information
Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah told Al-Jazeera television, in the first
Syrian reaction to the report, Reuters said.
Dakhlallah
told the Doha-based channel that the report was entirely motivated and
untrue.
"The
report is far from the truth. It was not professional and will not
arrive at the truth but will be part of a deception and great tension
in this region," he said.
"The
investigation must not be political, but should be professional and
based on evidence, not hearsay. The report and these accusations are
dangerous and will have huge political impact," he said.
The
highly anticipated report released in New York Thursday concluded that
the Feb. 14 bomb blast that killed Hariri and 20 other people was most
likely carried out with the approval of senior Syrian security
officials, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).
"There
is probable cause to believe that the decision to assassinate...
Hariri could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked
Syrian security officials and could not have been further organized
without the collusion of their counterparts in the Lebanese security
services," the report said.
The
53-page report said the probe was still incomplete. In an accompanying
letter to the report, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan extended the
team's work until Dec. 15.
"Converging
Evidence"
The
four-month-long probe, headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, said
it found "converging evidence" of Syrian and Lebanese
involvement, accusing Damascus of blocking and misleading the
investigation, AFP said.
Investigators
presented evidence that the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar
Al-Assad, Maj. Gen. Asef Shawkat, could have figured in the plot,
setting up known militant Ahmed Abu Adass as a decoy by forcing him to
tape a video claiming responsibility for the murder weeks before it
took place.
The
UN commission, which interviewed more than 400 people and reviewed
60,000 documents, also noted that a letter addressed to the Mehlis
panel by Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq Al-Shara proved to contain
"false information."
"Syria's
lack of substantive cooperation... has impeded the investigation and
made it difficult to follow leads... if the investigation is to be
completed it is essential that the government of Syria fully
cooperate."
The
UN report issued eight days after the death of Syrian interior
minister and former strongman in Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, in what the
authorities say was a suicide.
Kanaan
was questioned over Hariri's killing by the UN investigators but
proclaimed his innocence.
Syria
has been under mounting international pressures, accusing Damascus of
having had a hand in Hariri's killing, the allegations which Damascus
strenuously denied.
Denial
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The report said Lahoud, left, received a call from a suspect in Hariri's murder minutes before the blast. (Reuters).
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The
UN report also cast suspicion on Lebanese President Emile Lahoud,
saying that Lahoud received a phone call from a suspect in Hariri's
killing minutes before the blast.
The
report said Lahoud received the call from the brother of a key figure
in the plot, Ahmad Abdel-Al, who had phoned "all the important
figures in this investigation." Abdel-Al is a leader of a
pro-Syrian Lebanese charity group.
But
the Lebanese Presidency denied claims that Lahoud had a contact with
any suspect in the killing.
"The
press office in the presidential palace categorically denies this
information, which has no basis in truth and is a part of pressure
campaigns against the president," it said in a statement.
Three
of Lahoud's ex-security chiefs and the head of his personal bodyguard
have already been arrested in connection with Hariri's murder.
Lahoud
has resisted mounting pressure to resign after the murder of Hariri,
who served as Lebanon's prime minister five times and was a popular
billionaire business tycoon.
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