Naharnet - Siddiq Hiding in Europe, 10 April 2008
A key Syrian witness in the probe into former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's murder is hiding in an undisclosed location in Europe, a Kuwaiti newspaper quoted him as saying on Thursday."I am living in a secret hideout, close to France and the international tribunal, and I am well," Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq told Al-Seyassah by telephone, after he left his Paris home and disappeared.Siddiq said he went into hiding to protect his life, adding that he sent several letters to the international tribunal and the Lebanese judiciary informing them that he had faced three assassination attempts.Siddiq, a former Syrian intelligence official, was detained in October 2005 in a Paris suburb in connection with the February 2005 assassination of Hariri.France refused to extradite him to Lebanon because it had not been given guarantees that he would not face the death penalty if convicted.Siddiq's family says it has had no contact with him for two months and his brother, in a Syrian newspaper interview published on Wednesday, accused France of involvement in killing him.Newspaper reports in 2006 quoted Siddiq as saying that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his then Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud ordered Hariri's killing in a massive Beirut car bombing.
No comments:
Post a Comment