BEIRUT: The Future parliamentary
bloc called Tuesday on the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon to look
into an alleged Syrian-backed terror plot aimed at destabilizing Lebanon.
The bloc’s call came as Lebanese
security and judicial sources denied Tuesday local media reports that former
Information Minister Michel Samaha had recanted the confessions he made during
police interrogation about his involvement in the terror conspiracy.
The Future bloc of former Prime
Minister Saad Hariri called on the government to take an appropriate stance on
the “uncovered and foiled plot and on this flagrant attack on Lebanon and its
civil peace.”
“Therefore, the government, by
virtue of its responsibilities and obligations [to maintain security], is
called upon to inform the Arab League and the [U.N.] Security Council of the
information it has about the uncovered plot in order to place the Syrian regime
before its responsibility and face developments that might arise from this
crime,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting chaired by
former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at Hariri’s residence in Downtown Beirut.
“The bloc joined the voices of the
families of victims and martyrs of the Cedar Revolution in demanding that the
uncovered plot, with all its details, files and implications, be part of the
STL’s work in order to examine the possibility that this uncovered crime was
linked to previous crimes.”
“The victims of the Cedar
Revolution” refer to March 14 politicians and figures who were killed in a
string of bombings that rocked Lebanon following the assassination of former
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14, 2005. The March 14 coalition has blamed
Syria for Hariri’s assassination as well as for other killings. Damascus has
denied involvement in any of these killings.
The STL, which is trying to uncover
the perpetrators of Hariri’s assassination, last year indicted four Hezbollah
members in the crime. Hezbollah, which has repeatedly denied involvement in
Hariri’s killing, has vowed not to hand over the four suspects.
A military judge interrogated Samaha
Monday, two days after he was formally charged by Lebanon’s Military Tribunal
of being part of a terror plot to destabilize the country.
Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, the chief of
Syrian National Security Bureau, and a Syrian officer, identified as Brig. Gen.
Adnan, were also accused of being part of the conspiracy. The three men were
charged with planning a series of terrorist attacks involving explosives in
north Lebanon, as well as “planning to kill religious and political figures.”
During police interrogation, Samaha,
a longtime ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, two-time minister and former
MP, was reported to have confessed to his role in transporting explosives in
his car from Syria to Lebanon as part of the terror plot.
“If reports that Samaha retracted
his earlier statements are true, therefore the military judge would have been
convinced and Samaha would have been released,” a judicial source told The
Daily Star.
“But the mere fact that the arrest
warrant is still in place for Samaha is proof that the reports are baseless,”
the source added.
A senior security source also
scoffed at reports that Samaha had recanted his confessions. “The charges
against Samaha are documented with compelling evidence, including incriminating
video footage, about his role in transporting explosives and assigning people
to use these explosives against targets in specific areas, especially in the
north,” the source told The Daily Star
The source, speaking on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said the reports claiming that
Samaha had retracted from his confessions were designed “to mislead the
Lebanese public opinion that the [terror] charges were fabricated and
politicized.” The source added, “Compelling evidence cannot be politicized.”
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television quoted
judicial sources as saying that Samaha withdrew his testimony before Military
Judge Riad Abu Ghida Monday, claiming that he had given the statements under
pressure.
Al-Manar said Samaha had confessed
to transferring explosives from Syria to Lebanon with the aim of using them to
prevent opponents of the Syrian regime from smuggling militants and weapons
through Lebanon’s northern border, rather than to carry out a plot to
destabilize the country.
However, judicial sources told The
Daily Star the Al-Manar reports were unfounded, adding that Samaha’s lawyers
were behind such “rumors.”
Marada movement leader MP Sleiman
Franjieh said Monday Samaha had confessed to attempting to target the Free
Syrian Army and the routes to smuggle arms from Lebanon to Syria, adding that
his confessions were manipulated by the Internal Security Forces’ Information
Branch for political reasons.
Judicial sources, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that undercover agent Milad Kfouri would
be summoned for questioning if need be. Kfouri, who sources identified as
having provided incriminating footage in the Samaha case, was reportedly flown
outside the country just before the police raids on Samaha’s residences in
Ashrafieh and Metn’s Khanshara-Jwar, for fear over his safety.
In his confessions before the
Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch, Samaha said Assad had desired
bomb attacks in Lebanon.
The sources said the defense
attorneys have the right to demand Kfouri’s summoning but that the judge has
the final say depending on what serves the probe best.
In its statement, the Future bloc
demanded that the government suspend the security agreement signed by Lebanon
and Syria after the uncovering of the terror plot. It praised the role of the
ISF and its Information Branch in foiling “the biggest and most dangerous
conspiracy ever hatched against Lebanon since the assassination of martyr
[former] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by targeting civil peace with an attempt
to incite strife among the Lebanese.”
“The uncovering of the Syrian
regime’s conspiracy unmasks to the world the criminal means the Assad regime
has adopted toward Lebanon, its security, leaders and citizens,” the bloc said.
“These means are not far from the means and ways used in the assassination of
elite Lebanese leaders over the past years, including the assassination of
[former] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his comrades and the subsequent crimes
against the martyrs of independence.”
The bloc called on the Lebanese to
be wary and vigilant against “plots to incite strife and undermine their civil
peace.”
Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement
leader MP Michel Aoun declined to comment on the charges pressed against
Samaha.
“The case of former Minister Michel Samaha is in
the hands of the judiciary. When the case is handled by the judiciary, we leave
it to do its job away from political exploitation,” Aoun told reporters after
chairing a weekly meeting of his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc at his
residence in Rabieh, north of Beirut. – With additional reporting by Youssef
Diabhttp://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Aug-15/184718-future-calls-on-stl-to-look-into-samaha-terror-plot.ashx#axzz23dVigVXM
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