The Special Tribunal, The False Witnesses & The Officers

The Special Tribunal, The False Witnesses & The Officers


02/03/2009 With very little March 14 enthusiasm and attendance at The Hague, the special tribunal for Lebanon to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri saw light…

In a symbolic celebration, the tribunal was inaugurated amid hopes that it would contribute in "uncovering" the truth behind Hariri's assassination and other crimes that took place in the country during the previous years…

The tribunal's General Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare stressed politics has nothing to do with his work. "We work according to evidence, the law and our own conscience," the Canadian judge emphasized, adding that the Special Tribunal is not aiming to take revenge. "I will not issue an indictment unless fully convinced with the evidence presented. I will not press charges just to please a certain side."

FOUR OFFICERS ALWAYS IN DETENTION WITHOUT CHARGES

During the inauguration press conference, the four Lebanese officers still detained without charges for the fourth consecutive year, were the journalists’ main focus.

"No procedures are currently being taken to transfer the four generals in custody because we still have not officially asked Lebanon, but the request will be finalized soon," Bellemare told reporters. He said that until then, the four officers remain under Lebanese judicial authorities.
The officers’ lawyers have stressed they will continue to submit requests to the judiciary to release them.

The four officers are: Jamil Sayyed of the Surete Generale, Mustafa Hamdan of the Presidential Guard Brigade, Raymond Azar of the army's Intelligence Service and Ali Hajj of the Internal Security Forces. They have been arbitrarily detained without charges since 2005, upon the recommendation of former UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, based on the fabricated testimonies of false witnesses.
International movements, human-rights organizations and US State Department reports on human rights have criticized the detention as “arbitrary” and called on Lebanese authorities to release the officers.

Former minister and one of the officers' lawyers Naji al-Bustani, told Al-Manar on Monday that the Special Tribunal was in the interest of the officers who want the truth to be uncovered.
Bustani’s colleague and General Sayyed’s lawyer, Akram Azouri, renewed his call for the release of the officers "to preserve the reputation of Lebanon's judicial system." The officers, should they be transferred to the court in The Hague, will be released there, according to the lawyers. They added that it would do the image of the judicial system al lot better if they were released here in Lebanon.

FOUR OFFICERS DETAINED BASED ON FALSE TESTIMONIES

Indeed, on August 30, 2005, shortly after assuming his post, the former chief of the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) into Hariri's assassination, German detective Detlev Mehlis ordered the arrest of the four senior security officers without evidence. He founded his order on the testimonies of the false witnesses who had sought to deviate the investigation from its normal course.

Mehlis’s approach to the investigation was questioned by several political and legal circles as “a political revenge of one Lebanese group against another as well as against Syria.”
Unlike his successors, Mehlis’s reports submitted to the UN Security Council directly implicated Syria and accused Damascus of not cooperating with the investigation. His successors Serge Brammertz and Daniel Bellemare re-set the course of the investigation and their reports refuted much of Mehlis’s claims.

FIRST FALSE WITNESS: MOHAMED ZUHAIR SIDDIQ, KING WITNESS

Bellemare stressed during his press conference that some witnesses will feel much secure and safe in Belgium and therefore would testify without fear of being hurt.

Mohamad Zuheir Siddiq was the first false witness. He was exposed and then "smuggled" to France. Lebanon was denied a request to extradite him. He's now a fugitive and no one knows where he’s located.

Bellemare said on Sunday that the UN commission investigating Hariri's assassination has received several phone calls from Siddiq, but added that "we don't know his whereabouts."
Siddiq had claimed in his testimony that the four officers held a joint meeting in an apartment in Beirut's southern suburb and another one in Khalde, south of Beirut, to scheme the assassination of Hariri. His testimony was recorded on a video-tape that was submitted to the officers' lawyers.

SECOND FALSE WITNESS: HUSSAM HUSSAM, MASKED WITNESS

The second false witness was Hussam Hussam, a Syrian who used to live in the northern Metn region. He's believed to be the "masked witness," who confronted General Sayyed.

After giving his false testimony, he appeared on the Syrian television where he confessed of lying to the investigators. He said that he was subject to financial pressures and appeals, noting that some political and security figures close to MP Saad Hariri have intimidated him to submit his wrong testimony.

THIRD FALSE WITNESS: IBRAHIM JARJOURA, FALSE TESTIMONY WITNESS

The third false witness was Ibrahim Jarjoura who was, suddenly and without reasonable explanation, released by Lebanese judicial authorities last week.

Jarjoura announced that he has submitted a false and fabricated testimony after being subject to pressure and threats from the part of some Lebanese figures, namely MP and former Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade. He said that he was forced to learn by heart the false testimony which he gave to the UN commission and the Lebanese judiciary.

According to Jarjoura, he was detained by the Lebanese Army for three months because his permit had expired. He then received a phone call from MP Hamade who asked him to come to the Information branch (a security apparatus close to MP Hariri and the March 14 bloc). The Lebanese MP then met with Jarjoura and pressed him to submit the false testimony in return for money.

False testimonies, on which Mehlis had founded his investigation and recommendations, have led to the detention, without charges, of four generals since four years… Would the Special Tribunal re-set the course of the investigation on its normal course and question the false witnesses again?