Lebanon First bloc MP Okab Sakr said Saturday on OTV that March 8 coalition members should present actual evidence “demonstrating that Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch head Wissam al-Hassan and others are the ones who [allegedly] fabricated false witnesses” in the international investigation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination.
On September 18, former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed said that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and its pending indictment will not be trustworthy until Hassan, ISF Director General Achraf Rifi, Attorney General Judge Said Mirza, former International Investigation Commissioner Detlev Mehlis, and Mehlis’s assistant, Gerhard Lehmann, are imprisoned in the Hague or Lebanon.
Without real evidence, one should not pass around “laughable stories like Sayyed’s; [for example the story] that [Democratic Gathering bloc] MP Marwan Hamadeh hit [investigation witness] Mohammad Zuheir as-Siddiq with a ruler to teach his testimony,” Sakr said.
He added that his bloc favors investigating and trying false witnesses and those behind them, calling for Zuheir as-Siddiq—an alleged former Syrian intelligence officer who is accused of being a false witness—to be extradited to Lebanon. Media outlets have speculated that Siddiq might be in Australia.
Sakr also said that a few weeks ago a man claiming to be Siddiq called him and insulted him, after which the MP asked the caller to surrender himself to the authorities.
Journalist Mustafa Nasser should clarify his Monday statement, he added. Nasser on Monday denied having any relations with Sayyed and said reports of his mediation are inaccurate. The denial came in response to Sakr’s claim that Nasser was the go-between for Sayyed’s request for a multi-million dollar settlement from Prime Minister Saad Hariri in exchange for dropping a lawsuit that Sayyed filed in Damascus in December 2009 against Lebanese and Syrian public figures.
The MP also questioned how Sayyed can accuse Egyptian diplomat Ahmad Helmi of destroying Lebanon, while “yesterday Hezbollah officials met with [Helmi] and issued a statement about building trust.”
-NOW Lebanon
On September 18, former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed said that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and its pending indictment will not be trustworthy until Hassan, ISF Director General Achraf Rifi, Attorney General Judge Said Mirza, former International Investigation Commissioner Detlev Mehlis, and Mehlis’s assistant, Gerhard Lehmann, are imprisoned in the Hague or Lebanon.
Without real evidence, one should not pass around “laughable stories like Sayyed’s; [for example the story] that [Democratic Gathering bloc] MP Marwan Hamadeh hit [investigation witness] Mohammad Zuheir as-Siddiq with a ruler to teach his testimony,” Sakr said.
He added that his bloc favors investigating and trying false witnesses and those behind them, calling for Zuheir as-Siddiq—an alleged former Syrian intelligence officer who is accused of being a false witness—to be extradited to Lebanon. Media outlets have speculated that Siddiq might be in Australia.
Sakr also said that a few weeks ago a man claiming to be Siddiq called him and insulted him, after which the MP asked the caller to surrender himself to the authorities.
Journalist Mustafa Nasser should clarify his Monday statement, he added. Nasser on Monday denied having any relations with Sayyed and said reports of his mediation are inaccurate. The denial came in response to Sakr’s claim that Nasser was the go-between for Sayyed’s request for a multi-million dollar settlement from Prime Minister Saad Hariri in exchange for dropping a lawsuit that Sayyed filed in Damascus in December 2009 against Lebanese and Syrian public figures.
The MP also questioned how Sayyed can accuse Egyptian diplomat Ahmad Helmi of destroying Lebanon, while “yesterday Hezbollah officials met with [Helmi] and issued a statement about building trust.”
-NOW Lebanon
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