October 29, 2009 - Daily Star - Hariri case combined '12 false witnesses'

Former head of General Security Jamil al-Sayyed said on Wednesday that the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was the first case in history to combine a dozen false witnesses. Sayyed spoke during a news conference at the Coral Beach Hotel, where he revealed the content of the testimony he delivered to the Syrian judiciary after filing a lawsuit against former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam and the two Syrian false witnesses in the Hariri assassination case, Mohammad Zuhair al-Siddiq and Hossam Hossam.
Sayyed and three other Lebanese security chiefs were freed in April over a lack of evidence after a four-year incarceration for alleged involvement in the assassination of the former Lebanese premier.
Sayyed accused Lebanon’s State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza of referring the case of the false witnesses to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in The Hague in order to protect them from punishment.
“The STL clearly and repeatedly said in the media through its prosecutor Daniel Bellemare and its spokeswoman Radia Ashouri that it could not legally pursue the false witnesses … and that it was the responsibility of the Lebanese Judiciary to try these people,” he said.
Sayyed then added that Mirza, taking advantage of this fact, refrained from investigating allegations against false witness Siddiq “and his partners in Lebanon.”
He added that Mirza canceled, with the help of Investigative Magistrate into the Hariri case Saqr Saqr, the arrest warrant issued against Siddiq and referred the case to the STL, “thus preventing anyone from trying the suspects.”
However, Sayyed said Mirza’s actions gave false witnesses the status of regular Syrian citizens who could come in and out of Lebanon like any other Syrians.
Sayyed told reporters only France, under the mandate of French President Nicholas Sarkozy, responded to his request to legally pursue former head of the Lebanese Armed Forces Intelligence Branch Johnny Abdo and former UN Chief Investigator Detlev Mehlis.
He also accused former French President Jacques Chirac of protecting Siddiq.
Sayyed explained his decision to resort to the Syrian judiciary by saying he found himself obligated to do so because the case did not only concern him. “Every Lebanese, every Arab and every foreigner feels that he has been deceived in this case due to the conspiracy,” he said.
“Rafik Hariri should know the truth behind this masquerade,” Sayyed concluded. – The Daily Star