Iloubnan - Ex-general Jamil Sayyed says proceedings against him are illegal - September 19, 2010

Lebanese ex-general Jamil Sayyed who spent four years in jail without charges in connection with the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri said Sunday that ongoing legal action against him was "illegal."

Jamil Sayyed has brought lawsuits against prosecutor general Said Mirza, accusing him of producing "false evidence." "Mr. Mirza is supposed to be a public prosecutor, i.e. neutral, but considering these lawsuits he became my personal adversary," Sayyed said. He said that by law, "all proceedings by him (Mirza) are -- de facto -- illegal."

Sayyed, the former head of General Security, said he still had not been called in for questioning. Sayyed is one of four generals who say they were arbitrarily detained between August 2005 and April 2009 after they made strongly worded accusations about the Hariri case.

The ex-general, together with the Shiite Hezbollah and its allies, have accused security officials, politicians and judges close to the former premier's son, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, of having "manufactured" evidence to implicate them in the assassination.

Sayyed was accompanied from the airport by armed Hezbollah bodyguards when he returned to Beirut on Saturday after a short visit to France.

Hariri and 22 others were killed in a car bomb blast in Beirut on February 14, 2005. The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon which is investigating the killing is reportedly set to indict Hezbollah members in the assassination, a charge vehemently denied by the group, which is backed by Syria and Iran.