Hariri murder: Suspect arrested
2005-10-23 09:38
Beirut - A Lebanese Sunni Muslim who according to a UN report telephoned President Emile Lahoud minutes before the murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri has been arrested, a local television channel reported on Sunday.
Mahmud Abdel-Al, who is also member of the Islamic charity Al-Ahbache that is believed to have strong links with Syria, was arrested on Saturday on the order of the Lebanese judicial authorities, it said.
UN investigators probing the assassination implicated security officials in both Lebanon and Syria in the February 14 murder of former premier Hariri in their report released on Thursday.
The arrest is the first to be made since the report's publication.
The pro-Syrian president Lahoud on Friday denied claims in the UN report that he received a phone call on his mobile phone from a suspect minutes before the bomb blast.
- AFP