Elise Knutsen
Former MP Salim Diab was grilled by defense attorneys at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Tuesday about his knowledge of a number of individuals with ties to the Syrian regime who were initially arrested for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Defense lawyers focused particularly on Diab’s relationship with Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Al and his family. Abdel-Al, a prominent figure in the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, better known as Al-Ahbash, was accused of steering the investigation into the 2005 Hariri assassination toward Sunni extremists and away from pro-Syrian elements.
It was Abdel-Al who initially offered information about Ahmad Abu Adass, the Palestinian man who appeared in a video claiming responsibility for the assassination of the former prime minister.
Al-Ahbash, Diab said, was known to have close links to members of the Syrian security forces in Lebanon, including intelligence chief Gen. Rustom Ghazali.
Diab testified Tuesday that he did not know Abdel-Al personally, but knew his father, who was a driver for a politician, and his brother, who was an officer in the Republican Guard, headed at the time by Mustapha Hamdan.
Abdel-Al and another brother, Mahmoud, were arrested in 2005 on charges related to Hariri’s assassination after it was revealed that the brothers made a series of calls to high-ranking Lebanese politicians immediately before and after the blast that killed Hariri and 21 others on Feb. 14, 2005, near the Saint George Hotel.
Diab insisted, however, that he had no ties to Ahmad Abdel-Al or the Al-Ahbash group.
Diab was also questioned about Hamdan who was arrested in August 2005 for suspected involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Hariri.
Diab admitted that he knew Hamdan was involved with a security company based in Beirut. However, he said he did not recall whether the company provided services for the Saint-George marina where the assassination took place.
This is not the first time that the defense, representing five Hezbollah members formally charged with plotting the Hariri assassination, has sought to cast doubt on the character of Hamdan.
Last October, defense lawyer Guénaël Mettraux read excerpts of an interview that former Prime Minister Saad Hariri gave to investigators in 2007 in which he stated his belief that Hamdan was likely involved in his father’s assassination. After serving nearly four years in prison, Hamdan was released in April 2009.
Diab became defensive when questioned about previous testimony given to the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission in which he appeared to suggest that Rafik Hariri had bribed politicians and journalists with payouts.
“Mr. Hariri was helping people for the sake of help, not for the sake of buying people out ... His help was for people to come out of their miseries,” Diab explained.
Diab’s memory was often the subject of discussion during testimony Tuesday. The former MP, who was responsible for running Hariri’s electoral campaigns, repeatedly said that he could not recall names and dates, visibly irritating defense lawyers.
Diab completed his testimony by saying that he did not know what was discussed at meetings between Hariri and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah prior to the former’s assassination. He denied, however, that the meetings were somehow extraordinary.
“In Lebanon, especially in politics, nothing is out of the ordinary,” Diab said, concluding several days of testimony before the U.N.-backed tribunal.
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