February 26, 2009 - Daily Star - Lebanese authorities free three suspects in Hariri killing

By Dalila Mahdawi

BEIRUT: Lebanese judicial authorities announced Wednesday they had released three of seven suspects held in connection to former Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination, just days before the launch of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon starts trying the case. The former premier was assassinated along with 22 others in a massive car bomb in Beirut on February 14, 2005. Lebanese brothers Ahmad and Mahmoud Abdel Aal, detained in October 2005, were each released on a $330 bail. Syrian national Ibrahim Jarjura, who was taken into custody in January 2006, also walked freed after paying $66 in bail, the office of Public Prosecutor Said Mirza said.
Mahmoud and Ahmed Abdel-Aal, a member of pro-Syrian Sunni Muslim fundamentalist group Al-Ahbash were detained in 2005. A UN probe into the slaying said Mahmoud called former President Emile Lahoud's mobile phone shortly before the bombing. But the office of Lahoud, a Hariri rival and a Syria ally, denied the president received the call.
Gun fire could be heard throughout the afternoon in Beirut as friends and family of the Abdel Aal brothers celebrated their release.
Media reports on Monday said the charges against the men have not been dropped, meaning they can still be summoned by the tribunal, but they will not be transferred to The Hague. Mirza declined a request from The Daily Star to elaborate on the men's release.
In a separate development Wednesday, investigative magistrate Sakr Sakr rejected a request to release former head of the Presidential Guards Mustapha Hamdan and three other former generals suspected of involvement in Hariri's killing. LAF Intelligence head Raymond Azar, Internal Security Forces Director Ali Hajj, Jamil al-Sayyed from General Security and Hamdan were arrested in 2005 under the orders of Detlev Mehlis, former chief investigator of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC). None have been formally charged, but have remained in custody on suspicion of terrorism, murder and attempted murder.
Like the other generals, Sayyed has repeatedly denied any involvement, taking his grievances to the French courts in August 2008, when he filed a lawsuit against Mehlis for "distorting the investigation and calling false witnesses." The generals will remain under Lebanese jurisdiction until their transfer to The Hague in March, when the Special Tribunal for Lebanon kicks off.
In a letter published in the daily As-Safir newspaper Wednesday, Sayyed said he had hoped for his transfer to The Hague "for a long time instead of being held" a political hostage in Lebanon. The former general said he believed he and the other former generals would "overcome this period and be able to come out of it with our heads held high," remarking that the political climate had prevented Sakr from releasing them in Lebanon.
Despite facing his own legal battle with Sayyed, Mehlis said on Wednesday that it was up to the Office of Public Prosecution and the Tribunal to try or release the former generals, and that the men "should be handed over to the court." In an interview with the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, Mehlis said he had "a very clear picture" of Hariri's murder, as well as evidence proving Lebanese and Syrian security officials had "played a role."
"The picture is quite clear in my mind," he told the paper. A highly sophisticated criminal network was responsible for monitoring and killing Hariri, as well as a string of political assassinations that followed, the former investigator added.
MPs Marwan Hamadeh and Ahmad Fatfat also spoke out about the Tribunal ahead of its Sunday launch. "Regardless of the tribunal's judgment ... I will respect its decision," Hamadeh told Kuwaiti paper Al-Rai. "I am certain the tribunal will uncover the truth," he said, referring to alleged Syrian involvement. Fatfat meanwhile told an audience of Lebanese expatriates in Australia that international support for the Tribunal was "crucial" to Lebanon's political and judicial integrity.
Former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton used an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper to point the blame at Syria. "I believe that everyone not just in Washington but also in Europe and all those who understand Middle East affairs believed that Syria was involved," Bolton said on Wednesday.
The murder investigation had become an international case in light of "clear proof of Syrian involvement," he said, noting that Washington had supported the establishment of the tribunal because the Lebanese were incapable of conducting an impartial investigation alone, and because of "Syrian penetration of security services and the judicial system in Lebanon." The United States would not pressurize the Tribunal in any way, he added.
Also on Wednesday, reports emerged that two men wanted by the Lebanese authorities in connection with the Hariri assassination recently entered the country without being arrested.
Lebanese nationals Walid Zaghloul and Majed Hamdan arrived from Syria via the Masnaa border on February 1, and were escorted by two vehicles into the Bekaa town of Chtaura, where they were hastily transferred to "camouflaged cars," An-Nahar newspaper said. Their trouble-free arrival was arranged by the Syrian security services and facilitated by Lebanese strongmen, it said, adding that witnesses saw them enter a Beirut hotel flanked by heavy security.
Majed Hamdan is the brother of Mustapha Hamdan. Majed and Zaghloul were convicted in absentia of attempting to undermine the Lebanese state's authority, arms possession, and purchasing military equipment.