Zuhair Siddiq in UAE prison?

Zuhair Siddiq in UAE prison?

LATimes/ here

Siddiq, .... is suspected of giving false information in an attempt to implicate Syria in the explosion that killed Hariri and 22 others in 2005. Since then, investigators for the tribunal have dismissed Siddiq's testimony, and warrants for his arrest have been issued by the Lebanese and Syrian governments.....

Siddiq was arrested outside Paris in 2005 after Hariri's death, but was later released. In 2008, he resurfaced in the emirates when he was arrested for entering the country using a fake passport. Siddiq maintains that French intelligence gave him the passport and that the UAE government knowingly allowed him to enter the country.

Siddiq was dubbed the "king witness" in the investigation into Hariri's assassination after implicating top level Syrian officials, including Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother and brother-in-law, as well as the pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. Siddiq's testimony was compromised, however, after reports surfaced that he had been paid off by a third party.

AFP/ here

"......... given six months in jail and deportation for entering the UAE on a forged Czech passport. The Supreme State Security Court in Abu Dhabi pronounced its verdict, which cannot be appealed, in the presence of defendant Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, a former member of Syria's intelligence services.

"The penalty ends in mid-October," defence lawyer Fahd al-Sabhan told reporters after the verdict was announced, referring to the time his client has already spent in custody.

"We have previously annulled the request that he be handed in to the Syrian authorities. But he could be deported or not deported depending on the sovereign executive decision."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 7:22 AM