Decision to Release Four Generals Hailed for 2nd Consecutive Day

Decision to Release Four Generals Hailed for 2nd Consecutive Day
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30/04/2009 For the second consecutive day, Lebanon hailed on Thursday the decision to release the four Generals detained since 2005 without charges over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, calling for suing and prosecuting the Lebanese judiciary for unfairly keeping the Generals detained for 44 months.

In this context, Ayatollah Sayyed Mohamad Hussein Fadlallah called on all Lebanese to follow a line of general reconsideration, mainly regarding the judiciary body that should be the general governor of the country's motion. His eminence stressed on the need to rehabilitate the innocent people, calling to question those who hide behind an international octopus.

For his part, Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Nassereddin Gharib called on those who were responsible of the detention of the four Generals to apologize. He urged them to make room for others if they were tired of taking unfair decisions with respect to oppressed people.

The Lebanese Republic's Mufti Sheikh Mohamad Rashid Qabbani said that he trusts the international tribunal and thus, respect all its rulings.

Meanwhile, former minister Michel Samaha said that the decision to release the four Generals was, in itself, a direct conviction of the Lebanese judge who's scared of the head of the Future Movement MP Saad Hariri. He accused the Lebanese judges Said Mirza, Saqr Saqr, Ralph Riachi and Elias Eid of breaching their oath, urging them to immediately resign.

Samaha, who was speaking to Al-Manar, accused the "major man" in the Hariri family of securing the escape of the false witness Mohamad Zuhair Siddiq from France to Arab Emirates with a fabricated passport. He also recalled that US former ambassador to Beirut Jeffrey Feltman had visited him and asked him about the identity of the weakest among the four officers "who could claim that President Emil Lahoud recommended Rafiq Hariri's assassination."

Former Prime Minister Najib Miqati in turn said that the decision to release the four Generals would reflect negatively on the judiciary system in Lebanon, adding that it resulted in a number of wounds that it would be difficult to overcome. He called on the judiciary authority to take the initiative and launch an internal movement to handle the gaps here and there.

The head of the Islamic Labor Front Fathi Yakan also said that the release decision constituted a flagrant slap for all those who misled the investigation and counterfeited the truth.

Baath party official Fayez Shokr said that the conspiracy to hide the truth behind the assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri became obvious and transparent.

The Lebanese Communist Party Secretary General Khaled Hadada said, in turn, that the release of the Generals points to a crisis in the judicial body.

Former Minister Wadih al-Khazen said that release of the officers proved that their arbitrary detention was a result of the attempts to mislead the investigations and falsify the truth.

Meanwhile, the Christian National Meeting expressed satisfaction with the release of the officers. During its regular meeting headed by the candidate in Baalbeck Emil Rahmeh, the meeting wished the Lebanese judiciary had released them, not the STL, because the judiciary should be the base of national sovereignty.

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