Syrians face Hariri questions

Published on Sunday 6 November 2005 01:59

THE chief UN investigator into the assassination of a former Lebanese premier has summoned six senior Syrian intelligence officers, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, for questioning, a Lebanese official said last night.

The official, close to the UN team investigating Rafik Hariri's killing, said chief investigator Detlev Mehlis sent the summons to the Syrian government via the United Nations on Wednesday.

"Mr Mehlis has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanding to question at least six Syrian officials," the official said.

There was no immediate Syrian comment due to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

The London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat reported yesterday that Mehlis wanted to question six senior Syrian officers at the UN commission's headquarters at the hilltop Monteverde Hotel east of Beirut, and not in Syria.

Last week's Security Council Resolution 1636 gave Mehlis the power to question any Syrian at the location and under conditions of his choosing.

Despite its declared readiness to co-operate with the UN probe into Hariri's killing, the Syrian government, citing the country's sovereignty, is reportedly against allowing Syrian witnesses or suspects to be questioned by UN investigators outside Syria.

Al Hayat said the men Mehlis wanted to question included Assad's brother-in-law, General Assef Shawkat, chief of Syria's military intelligence service; Maj. Gen. Bahjat Suleiman, former chief of Syria's internal intelligence apparatus; and Brig. Gen. Rustum Ghazale, the last Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon who was in charge when Hariri was assassinated.

The other three senior officers listed in the summons did not include Assad's brother, Maher, whose name was mentioned, along with Shawkat, in Mehlis's report to the Security Council last month.

Last Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1636, demanding Syria co-operate more fully with the UN probe into Hariri's killing or face "further action."