Batoul Wehbe
04/10/2010
The repercussions of the false witnesses’ case in the assassination of former premier Martyr Rafiq Hariri are still coming to light with the Syrian judiciary issuing 33 arrest warrants against judges, officers, politicians and journalists of Lebanese, Arab and other nationalities; many considered to be close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
The false witnesses’ case was brought by former General Security Chief Jamil As-Sayyed who in December 2009 filed a lawsuit in Damascus. Sayyed said he took this move because he did not have faith in Lebanon's judiciary, which he has accused of covering for the false witnesses.
Syria issued the arrest warrants after repeated state summons for the people concerned went ignored.
The individuals include Lebanese MP Marwan Hamade, State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, Information Branch chief Wissam Hasan, Journalist Fares Khashan, Hariri's advisor Hani Hammoud, Attorney General Judge Said Mirza, Judge Saqr Saqr, Former head of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) Detlev Mehlis and his aide Gerhard Lehmann, and witnesses Ibrahim Michel Jarjoura, Akram Shakib Murad, Mohammed Zuheir Siddiq and Abdul Baset Bani Audeh.
In the meantime, Cabinet is scheduled to convene on Monday at the Baabda presidential Palace following PM Hariri’s return from a three-day visit to Jeddah, with the Syrian arrest warrants case likely to impose itself as the main topic of discussion in the meeting.
Hariri's bloc was “shocked” by the Syrian arrest warrants, prominent ministerial sources told the An-Nahar daily. Senior Future movement sources lashed out at the warrants “especially after Hariri made positive initiatives towards Syria,” As-Safir reported.
Syria has recently shown resentment at Hariri’s handling of the vows he had cut in Damascus over a spate of issues from easing tension in Lebanon to bilateral ties.
Hariri, in remarks to the Asharq Al-Awsat, acknowledged the existence of false witnesses and admitted that accusing Syria in past four years of killing his father was wrong.
Future Movement source, according to AsSafir, stressed the warrants were a direct political message whose meaning was not yet clear.
ISF Director General Achraf Rifi told AFP that the arrest warrants could only be served on Syrian territory. "Interpol will not acknowledge such warrants…because they are politically motivated,” he said.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea told An-Nahar newspaper that Damascus had waged an “attack” against Lebanese institutions. Hariri’s Lebanon First bloc MP Okab Sakr told Al-Arabiya that he feared the recent warrants would lead to protests by “March 8 supporters calling for [alleged] justice.”
As-Sayyed has accused international powers of standing behind claims that Hezbollah had murdered Rafiq Hariri.
"The game is bigger than Saad Hariri. It is related to international schemes, starting from the new Middle East, which used Rafiq Hariri's blood to strike Syria," Sayyed said in remarks published Sunday by the Syrian daily al-Watan.
"But today, after the plot failed, they moved to accuse the Resistance seeking a new scheme based on creating a Sunni-Shiite strife to divert attention from the struggle against the Israeli enemy and transfer it to an inter-Arab and Muslim-Muslim conflict."
March 14 opponents lashed out at the pro-US camp’s uproar asking those who are yelling their lungs out today, why haven’t they taken a similar stance when the US labels Lebanese parties and individuals “terrorists”, and why they kept mum when arbitrary apprehension of innocent people had taken place since 2005, based on baseless, illegal, and fabricated testimonies.
After meeting Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in Clemenceau, Beirut, Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali said the arrest warrants "have no effect" on relations between Syrian President Bashar Assad and Saad Hariri. "Let the guilty be punished and the innocent go free," Jumblatt said.
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عدد القراء : 2108
03/10/2010
أصدر قاضي التحقيقِ الأول في دمشقَ ثلاثاً وثلاثينَ مذكرةَ توقيفٍ غيابيةً بحقِ قضاةٍ وضباطٍ وسياسيينَ واعلاميينَ وأشخاصٍ من جنسياتٍ لبنانيةٍ وعربيةٍ وأجنبية، من بينهم القاضي الألماني ديتليف ميليس ومساعدُه المحققُ الألماني غيرهارد ليمان ونائبُ الرئيسِ السوري السابق عبد الحليم خدام.
أمّا من لبنان، فشملت مذكراتُ التوقيف الوزيرينِ السابقينِ العدل شارل رزق والداخلية حسن السبع، النائبَ مروان حمادة، اللواءَ أشرف ريفي والعقيد وسام الحسن، القاضيينِ سعيد ميرزا وصقر صقر، السفيرَ السابقَ جوني عبده والاعلامي فارس خشان. وذكرت الوكالة الوطنية للإعلام أن من بين الذين تشملهم مذكرات التوقيف النائبان السابقان باسم السبع والياس عطاالله والقاضي الياس عيد بالاضافة الى مستشار رئيس الحكومة اللبنانية هاني حمود والعقيد حسام التنوخي والمقدم سمير شحادة والعميد المتقاعد محمد فرشوخ. عدنان البابا وخالد حمود والإعلامي حسن صبرا. كذلك شملت المذكرات السوري نهاد الغادري وعبد السلام موسى وأيمن شروف وعمر حرقوص والكويتي أحمد جارالله. زهرا بدران ونديم المنلا وحميد الغريافي وايضاً الشهود ابراهيم ميشال جرجورة. أكرم شكيب مراد. محمد زهير الصديق وعبد الباسط بني عودة.
وقد أوضح بيانٌ صادرٌ عن المكتبِ الاعلامي للمدير العام للامن العام اللبناني السابق اللواء جميل السيد، أنّ مذكراتِ التوقيفِ هذه أُصدرت اثرَ انتهاءِ المهلةِ القانونيةِ للتبليغاتِ في الدعوى المقدمةِ من قبلِ اللواءِ السيد أمامَ القضاءِ السوري منذُ حوالَى السنةِ في ملفِ شهودِ الزورِ في قضيةِ اغتيالِ الرئيس الشهيد رفيق الحريري. هذا وأحالَ قاضي التحقيقِ السوري مذكراتِ التوقيفِ الى المفرزةِ الجنائيةِ في سوريا التي ستُعممُها على المراكزِ الحدوديةِ والانتربولِ الدولي.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
Uprooted Palestinian
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