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Amid Public Support, Syria Exposes "Loopholes" in UN Report
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"The report by Mehlis is riddled with loopholes," said Daoudi. (Reuters)
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By
Salwa Al-Astawani, IOL Correspondent
DAMASCUS,
Oct 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Amidst mass
rallies in support of the regime, Syria is sending a document to the
UN Security Council member states detailing "loopholes" in a
UN report linking it to the assassination of former Lebanese premier
Rafiq Al-Hariri, the legal advisor of the Syrian Foreign Ministry has
revealed.
"The
report by [German judge Detlev] Mehlis is riddled with loopholes and
Syria now stands a golden opportunity to defend itself," Riad Al-Daoudi
told IslamOnline.net.
"We
have taken our case now to the UN Security Council members to expose
these flaws."
The
Syrian Foreign Ministry has summoned the ambassadors of the UNSCE
member states in Damascus and handed them letters from President
Bashar Al-Assad to their governments, the Syrian News Agency (SANA)
reported without giving details.
Syria's
highest political body, the National Progressive Front, on Sunday,
October 23, rejected the UN report as a distortion of the truth.
The
report is "full of contradictions and has distorted the truth and
the facts," said the Front, which groups eight parties headed by
Assad's Baath party.
Mehlis,
leading an international team investigating the massive bomb blast
that killed Hariri and 20 others in Beirut on February 14, said he
found "converging evidence" of Syrian and Lebanese
involvement and accused Damascus of blocking and misleading his
investigation.
The
next crucial junction for Syria, already slapped with US sanctions
since 2004, comes on Tuesday, October 25, when the UNSC meets to
discuss the report before deciding what further action to take.
Mass
Rally
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Carrying photos of President Bashar, Syrians chant anti-US slogans. (Reuters)
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Tens
of thousands of Syrians rallied in support of the regime Monday, on
the eve of the UNSC session.
"God,
Syria and Bashar and that's all," shouted hundreds of students
who marched toward the center of the capital, waving Syrian flags and
holding up pictures of Bashar and his late father Hafez Al-Assad.
"We
will defend you Bashar with our blood and our souls," others in
the demonstration chanted.
Some
carried signs that said: "No to the Mehlis report, it is
politicized."
On
Sunday, Syrian lawyers and judges also marched against the UN report.
The
march started from the Bar Association and ended outside the UN office
in Damascus.
Bar
Association chairman Ahmad Eido handed the representative of the UN a
letter addressed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
The
letter said Syrian lawyers have very carefully studied the report and
found serious legal mistakes and violations of minimum basics of
judiciary work and investigations.
No
Sanctions
Senior
opposition figures have opposed international sanctions against their
country and people.
"Only
those behind the Hariri killing should be held accountable no matter
how high-ranking they are and irrespective of their
nationalities," Hassan Abdel Azim, the secretary general of the
Arab Democratic Socialist party, told IOL.
Lebanese
opposition leader Walid Jumblatt also rejected punishing the Syrians
for the wrongdoing of a few.
"The
deeply rooted ties between the Syrian and Lebanese people, the
sacrifices they have jointly offered and blood bond are stronger than
a bunch of villains," he told a press conference Sunday.
"If
there will be sanctions, let it be limited to the main culprits and
not the Syrian people."
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