Saad Hariri meddling in UN tribunal

A former Lebanese official has accused Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri of presenting false witnesses to the UN tribunal investigating the murder of his father Rafiq Hariri.

The former director of General Security, Major General Jamil al-Sayyed, said Lebanese State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza and other figures known to have close relations with Hariri were also involved in introducing the witnesses into the investigation, Press TV’s correspondent in Beirut, Ali Rizk, reported on Saturday.

Hariri was killed along with more than 20 other people in a massive car bombing in Beirut on February 14, 2005.

The United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was subsequently set up by the world body and the Lebanese government in May 2007 to investigate the assassination.

Sayyed said that Rafiq Hariri’s death was being exploited to fight Syria and the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

Hariri reportedly informed Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah in July that that the STL would implicate some Hezbollah members.

But Hezbollah categorically rejected the allegations and called the tribunal an “Israeli project.”

Hariri has pledged “not to allow my father’s blood to stir disunity in Lebanon.”

The former general was one of four senior Lebanese military and security officials who were imprisoned without charge over the assassination and released three years and eight months later without any explanation.

He is now in Beirut in response to the state prosecutor’s decision to summon him for questioning.

Hezbollah has expressed support for Sayyed and has asked Mirza to cancel his decision to interrogate Sayyed.