Now Lebanon - Ahmad Hariri criticizes Hezbollah’s Friday statement - September 18, 2010

Future Movement Secretary General Ahmad Hariri told MTV on Saturday that Hezbollah’s Friday statement reflected that the party “accepts threats against Prime Minister [Saad Hariri].”

Hezbollah issued a statement on Friday that Attorney General Judge Said Mirza’s request to summon former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed was “political par excellence,” calling for a reversal of the judiciary's decision to summon Sayyed for questioning.

The former General Security chief said on Sunday that “[PM Hariri] should take a lie detector test to prove he did not support or fund false witnesses in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL),” the court investigating the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. Sayyed also vowed to take his rights “with his own hands.”

Sayyed was detained from 2005 to 2009 on suspicion of involvement in the Rafik Hariri murder. In April 2009, the STL ordered his release due to lack of evidence.

The PM stands by the Resistance, Hariri said, adding that Hezbollah’s statement should have at least condemned Sayyed’s threat.

Hariri also said that everyone should commit to maintaining a calm political atmosphere, which the July 30 Baabda summit helped accomplish. Hezbollah works within a regional system and wants to implement its agenda in Lebanon, he added.

“The political coup in the country [is being carried out] by former generals,” Hariri said, possibly referring to Sayyed and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who is also a former general.

During his Sunday press conference, Sayyed called on the people to “revolt against authority and attack officials in their houses.”

On Tuesday, Aoun called on Lebanese citizens to not abide by the requests of the Internal Security Forces (ISF)—Information Branch or Mirza, saying, “the judiciary is burning.”

-NOW Lebanon