| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Siddiq Says he Owns 7 Tapes that Implicate Top Syrian Officers in Hariri's Murder |
| 2011-01-25 |
| [An Nahar] "False Witness" Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq has unveiled that he holds seven important recordings that implicate top Syrian officers in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's liquidation. Siddiq called al-Jadid TV's anchorman George Salibi during his talk show Sunday night and made the revelation. He said he is going to deliver the tapes to the Special Tribunal for Leb at The Hague. He exposed one of the recordings in which a high-ranking Syrian officer and his subordinate discuss about Abu Adas and how he refuses to execute orders to carry out the liquidation because he only kills infidels (koffar). The high-ranking officer then asked his subordinate: "You animal, didn't you tell him that Hariri is an infidel?" Siddiq said many people in the March 8 coalition would recognize the officer which he refused to name. Media reports said the man is Brig. Gen. Rustom Ghazaleh, the former head of Syria's military intelligence in Leb. The "false witness" told the TV station that he obtained the recordings from Syria's Interior Minister from 2004 to 2005, and long-time head of Syria's security apparatus in Leb, Ghazi Kanaan. Siddiq then said he had warned Syria's hereditary President Bashar PencilneckAssad ... who used to be referred to in the Egyptian press as the boy president... several times about the Abu Adas issue and Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otari had sent an envoy to Spain to negotiate with the "false witness." Asked whether he had met with Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri in Spain, Siddiq confirmed that such a meeting took place at the request of the STL. He stressed that the talks were his only meeting with Hariri and Col. Wissam Hassan. He said that both were skeptical about him and did not believe him. Siddiq added that he never met them again. Salibi questioned his motives behind coming up with such information after five years of silence and on the eve of the parliamentary consultations to name a new premier. Siddiq's revelation also came after broadcasts on al-Jadid of interviews conducted by U.N. Sherlocks and a conversation between Hariri and Siddiq in Spain. |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Aoun: Opposition Candidates are Karami, Safadi, Miqati |
| 2011-01-24 |
| [An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... on Sunday said the Opposition candidates for the premiership are Omar Karami, Mohammed Safadi and Najib Miqati. He said the Opposition will "give the final word today or tomorrow." Aoun accused caretaker PM Saad Hariri of giving false testimonies. "Saad Hariri, and not Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, is the first person to be involved in false testimony," Aoun said in an interview with BBC. He said he believed Hariri will not return as Leb's PM "since the majority now is in our hands." |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Tribunal to Focus on Damascus as Mehlis Says Arrest of Generals Not Only Based on Siddiq Testimony |
| 2009-05-09 |
| The Special Tribunal for Lebanon will turn its eye on Damascus following the release of the four generals, European sources said, as former chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis said his recommendation to arrest the former security chiefs was based on the testimony of king witness Zuhair Siddiq as well as others. Mehlis said the U.N. commission investigating ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's murder had recommended the arrest of the four generals and it would have retracted its order had it been mistaken. Mehlis told al-Mustaqbal daily that when he quit as head of the commission, the provisional arrest of the generals was legal under Lebanese, German and French law. He stressed that at that time he thought the probe would need only one more year. He told al-Mustaqbal that he would have sent the file to the court if he had enough evidence and if not, he would have announced that finding the truth is impossible. "Had the investigation been on the right track, it would have been over long time ago," the former head of the U.N. panel said. He told the newspaper that his recommendation to arrest the four generals wasn't only based on the testimony of witness Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq. Mehlis said he recommended the arrests after hearing the testimonies of several witnesses including Gen. H. and another person to whom one of the released officers, Gen. Mustafa Hamdan, had said there is an intention to send Hariri on a "trip." Mehlis said that the commission had asked Syria for information on a possible Israeli involvement in Hariri's assassination but Damascus did not cooperate on the matter. The panel, according to Mehlis, also ruled out the involvement of fundamentalists in the former premier's murder. Sources involved in the investigation into Hariri's assassination informed official Western and European parties that the court will continue its work because the commission investigating the former premier's killing has enough evidence and information to find the truth. The sources stressed that the tribunal's judges are committed to the Lebanese and the international community to hold accountable and punish the culprits. An Nahar quoted the Western and European officials as saying the release of the generals will support international efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad to cooperate with the tribunal and comply with its demands, including the interrogation of Syrian witnesses or accused persons when needed. Well-informed diplomatic sources in Paris said "the next strike by the court after the release of the generals will be in Damascus because the Hariri case is of significance to Syria more than any other country outside Lebanon." Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities informed pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen that they are implementing his decision to protect the generals, including taking security measures and putting guards to protect them and their property. |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Key Hariri witness returned to Paris | |
| 2008-06-28 | |
Beirut / Paris - Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, a key witness in the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has reportedly returned to Paris, according to a French diplomatic source. The source told the Jordanian foreign ministry that the Syrian witness (Siddiq), who "vanished" in April, had returned to live in a western suburb of Paris.
Siddiq has reportedly called a Kuwaiti newspaper to say that he is well but in hiding in Europe for fear for his life, the paper reported last April. Siddiq had been living in France under house arrest until he disappeared. French authorities confirmed the disappearance and said Siddiq was last seen when he left his house March 13. | |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian witness in Hariri assassination disappears in France |
| 2008-04-07 |
| Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, a major Syrian witness in the assassination of Lebanon's former PM Rafik Hariri, had mysteriously left his self-chosen exile in France to an unknown destination, the daily newspaper as-Safir has reported. Siddiq had implicated Syria in the Hariri crime. Damascus had denied the charge. "Siddiq has probably left for the side that facilitated his departure from Riyadh to Paris two years and a half ago." The report said Siddiq has been moved to a "prosperous Arab state in the gulf." It did not disclose further details. |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Lebanon MP: Witnesses to Hariri crime face death threats |
| 2008-04-07 |
| Lebanon MP Mustafa Alloush, a member of the Mustaqbal Parliamentary Bloc, said Saturday witnesses to the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri face death threats. Allloush, in a newspaper interview, accused the so-called "regional axis" of seeking to assassinate such witnesses. The phrase regional axis, in Lebanese political parlance, refers to Syria and Iran. Such an axis, according to Alloush, "could also chose some personalities that could become witnesses and assassinate them one way or the other." Israel, according to Alloush, "could launch war on Lebanon." Probably so, but I'd call that one of your less pressing worries. "Lebanon would not be spared in any war that would spark in the region due to the nature of Hezbollah and its affiliations," Alloush added. Perhaps if the effect is war with Israel, you should look to the cause, which is Hezbollah? In a related development Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, a major Syrian witness in the assassination of Lebanon's former PM Rafik Hariri, had mysteriously left his self-chosen exile in France to an unknown destination, the daily newspaper as-Safir has reported. Siddiq had implicated Syria in the Hariri crime. Damascus had denied the charge. |
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