http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=19438
Head of Syrian military intelligence suspect in Hariri killing, says Stern Mehlis mission extension to December depends on 'whether there are technical questions that need answers' By Leila Hatoum and Majdoline Hatoum Daily Star staff Wednesday, October 19, 2005 BEIRUT/NEW YORK: Assef Shawkat, brother-in-law to Syrian President Bashar Assad and the head of Syrian military intelligence, has been named as a suspect by the head of UN team investigating the murder of Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Shawkat, one of Syria's most powerful men, "was questioned as a suspect and not as a witness," German magazine Stern wrote, without revealing the source of its information. Assad had appointed Shawkat Syria's chief of military intelligence shortly after Hariri's assassination on February 14. Sources had said Monday that Mehlis would present the names of some 20 suspects in his report including the names of Syrian officers. Mehlis is due to present a report to the UN and the Lebanese government this Friday. The Lebanese people have been awaiting Friday eagerly, with some expecting institutions to shut down for the day. However, Lebanese officials have announced that it would be a "normal working day." Late Monday night, the UN Security Council discussed the possibility of extending the Mehlis mission if his report leaves any questions unanswered. The council may ask Mehlis to continue working until the end of the year, said Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, whose nation holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council. "If the presentation prompts new questions that would require very specific answers on technical details, these answers would be due by the end of the year," Ungureanu told The Associated Press in an interview. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had said Monday that he "will wait for Mehlis' full report to be able to make a judgment whether to extend the mandate." Also on Tuesday, Annan met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "where they discussed a range of issues, including Syria and Lebanon," said Stephane Dujarric, Annan's spokesperson. Rice's spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice and Annan "were able to compare notes." Asked whether tougher action would be sought against the Syrians, McCormack said the U.S. and other countries would first take a look at the Mehlis report as well as that also submitted to Annan this week on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559. This demanded Syria's pullout from Lebanon as well as the disbandment of all militias. Garnering more international support for the case, Hariri's parliamentary bloc MPs started a campaign to urge UN Security Council's members to establish an international tribunal to try those accused of Hariri's murder. Among other embassies, the MPs visited the U.S., Chinese, Japanese and the Romanian. Lebanese MP Walid Eido said after meeting the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman he felt a U.S. readiness to support a Lebanese demand to extend Mehlis' mission. Eido added that Feltman told him the U.S. "is seriously studying its stand for establishing an international private court, especially under the circumstances of the Lebanese judicial system, which is not qualified yet ..." to handle such a trial. The MPs plan to visit Wednesday the embassies of the permanent SC members France, Russia and the U.K. Meanwhile, during a phone call with The Daily Star, Najib Friji, chief of the UN Information Center in Beirut, said he "will not dignify the allegations made by the media with a reply." Recent rumors circled in the media that Friji was reassigned to another country. Dujarric told The Daily Star that Friji "continues to hold his job, but for his own safety and his own safety only he was removed from Beirut." Dujarric, who said Friji was personally threatened, added: "These threats are being taken very seriously and the security situation was taken very seriously and we thought it was best for him to be removed." In Beirut, judicial sources said extradition was being sought for Zuhair Mohammad Siddiq, the Syrian Army deserter now held by France on suspicion of misleading the Mehlis commission. - With agencies ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/VpgUKB/pzNLAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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