Daily Star - Sayyed accuses Hariri of backing false STL witnesses - September 13, 2010

BEIRUT: Former Major General Jamil al-Sayyed lashed out Sunday at Prime Minister Saad Hariri, accusing him of being behind false witness in investigations into former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s murder.

“Your right to demand the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has fallen … enough, the issue is over. [You should say] my father is dead and the tribunal is over,” Sayyed told a news conference on the fifth anniversary to mark his arrest.

Sayyed said Hariri along with his “political, media, judicial and security team” joined forces with former head of the investigation committee Detlev Mehlis to exploit the murder as a plot aimed against Syria as well as to seize power in Lebanon.

“That is why we see Saad Hariri dying to defend false witnesses and stand against holding them accountable; because if they fall, this authority will fall from top to bottom,” Sayyed said.

Commenting on Hariri’s recent remarks to the pan-Arab Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, Sayyed added that Hariri was not only required to visit Syria and renounce false witnesses, but also to hold them accountable for their acts.

Hariri said in his remarks that false witnesses who “misled’ investigations did harm to Syrian-Lebanese ties by politicizing the murder, but the premier distanced the STL’s course from that of the former UN investigation committee that investigated former witnesses.

Sayyed’s sharp accusations against the premier follow talks last week with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus and coincide with demands by Hizbullah officials to investigate false witnesses as a crucial step toward political and security stability in Lebanon.

Sayyed, who was head of the General Security when Hariri’s father was assassinated in 2005, was arrested along with the country’s three other top security officials later that year upon Mehlis’ demands for suspicion of involvement in the murder.

But Mehlis’ two successors shrouded their investigations in secrecy until the four officers were released in April 2009 by STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, only one month before the establishment of the UN-backed tribunal.

In sharp tones, the former general slammed Hariri and his coalition for continuing to exploit the UN investigation to implement the remaining clauses of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 by shifting accusations from Syria to Hizbullah and the resistance.

UN Security Council Resolution 1559 called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon, forcing Syria, under domestic and international pressure following Hariri’s assassination, into withdrawing its troops from Lebanon, ending 29 years of military presence.

The resolution also called for the disarmament of Lebanese groups outside the state’s authority, which Hizbullah condemns as an attempt to disarm the resistance.

“When this team finished using the international investigation and false witnesses to accuse Syria and the four officers … it moved to use the international investigation to accuse the opposition and the resistance through the same tools, leaks and foreign support,” Sayyed said.

Though Sayyed separated the issue of the STL from that of the UN probe launched in 2005 before the UN-backed court was established in March 2009, he said the impending indictment by the STL would be definitely biased and politicized since it would be based on politicized previous investigations.

Sayyed added that Lebanon was targeted by certain Egyptian, Jordanian and American circles plotting to instigate strife among the Lebanese.

Analysts fear the eruption of Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon if the Special Tribunal’s indictment accuses Hizbullah members of involvement in the murder.

Sayyed went further by threatening to take justice into his own hands if the Lebanese prime minister did not act to put false witnesses on trial.

“I vow upon my honor that if you do not give me my right, I will take it with my own hands some day. [So go ahead and] jail me,” Sayyed said, urging the premier to go through a polygraph test to prove that he did not support or fund false witnesses.

Zuheir Siddiq, Hussam Hussam and Ibrahim Jarjoura were among other former witnesses that later recanted their first testimonies before the UN probe which Sayyed said officials close to Hariri fabricated.

The issue of false witnesses has been a subject for debate among Lebanese parties, with March 14 parties stressing that “false witnesses” could be classified as such only after the trial takes place.

Commenting on the issue of Siddiq, Bellemare said earlier this month that Siddiq was neither classified as a false witness nor a suspect in the assassination.

“The day you used false witnesses to accuse us and Syria, you freed the real criminal and declared him innocent,” Sayyed said addressing Hariri.

Naming officials who according to Sayyed fed false witnesses information to mislead investigations, the former general slammed the head of the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces Wissam Hassan and General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza.

Sayyed also asked Hariri to reposition his father’s memorial in Downtown Beirut to another spot, saying the land was unrightfully confiscated by Solidaire from Beirut residents.