Sayyed renews demand to be set free

Daily Star - Sayyed renews demand to be set free, January 16, 2008

Former General Security chief Jamil al-Sayyed said on Tuesday that a forthcoming UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) report dealing with the arrest and detainment of him and seven others in former Premier Rafik Hariri's murder case "convicted" the Lebanese government of arbitrary arrest. Sayyed's lawyer, Akram Azouri, issued a statement on Tuesday filing his client's comments on the report, excerpts of which were published in Al- Akhbar newspaper Monday. The report, conducted by a UN team in charged with probing illegal arrests, accused Lebanese authorities of illegally detaining eight people in the Hariri case. In addition to Sayyed, the seven others include three former security chiefs and four civilians. The report said the Lebanese government must not keep the suspects in custody without pressing charges. The government defended itself by claiming the suspects are not under normal arrest, but are subject to provisional detention. Azouri told The Daily Star that the Lebanese government cannot face the UN with the pretext of provisional detentions since the UNHCHR does not give member states the right to justify their judicial actions by resorting to their internal laws. According to the UNHCHR, he said, suspects can be only kept in custody after pressing charges against them. Sayyed said in the statement that the UNHCHR report would not have seen the light of day had State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza not admitted to Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, chief investigator in the Hariri murder, that Mirza was ordered by the Lebanese government to keep the suspects in custody for political purposes. The statement added that Mirza and the government of Premier Fouad Siniora have ignored a call by UN Assistant Secretary General for Legal Affairs Nicholas Michel, urging the responsible authorities to end the "political arrests." Sayyed's statement emphasized that "the UNHCHR report has clearly labeled the arrests as illegal and arbitrary, thus considering the judges responsible for keeping the suspects in custody as outlaws." The judges in question are Mirza and Judge Saqr Saqr. Based on the UN report, Sayyed addressed the Lebanese public and all political parties in the country, urging them to take all the necessary measures to set the suspects free. Azouri told The Daily Star he will be requesting appointments with Siniora, Speaker Nabih Berri, and Justice Minister Charles Rizk to discuss the case and urge the senior officials to shoulder their responsibilities toward the UNHCHR. Lebanon is a signatory to the UN International Pact for Civil and Political Rights. In a related development, Higher Shiite Council vice president Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan sent two of his aides on Tuesday to visit the four former security chiefs in custody, according to the National News Agency. Qabalan's aides conveyed to the former chiefs his support and solidarity. Qabalan said "the arrested generals should be given justice as soon as possible. They should not be kept in custody without any legal pretext."