Hariri: Top-level plot claimed

2005-09-05 16:16

Berlin - United Nations investigators probing the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri have uncovered leads in Beirut that point to high-level involvement in the plot to kill him, said a report on Monday.

Der Spiegel weekly news magazine said the arrest of four allies of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud at the weekend "can mean a breakthrough and bring Syria to book".

It said: "The UN team... believes it can now prove that those arrested plotted the murder in an attempt to silence the former anti-Syrian prime minister."

The leads included fingerprints found in an empty apartment in Beirut, where it was believed the plot to kill Hariri was hatched.

Powerful bomb

They also included a car, which was seen following his convoy on February 14, just before it was struck by a powerful bomb that killed the premier and 19 other people.

According to Der Spiegel, the car belonged to Lebanon's former army intelligence director Raymond Azar, which was regularly reporting on the UN probe led by German state prosecutor Detlev Mehlis.

It said Mehlis also had found a trail of telephone calls that "leads directly to the highest levels of the security apparatus".

A Lebanese judge on Saturday ordered the four suspects to be held in custody after he questioned them about the murder and their arrest was seen as the first major step towards a trial in the case.

Plot to kill Hariri

They were Azar, presidential guard commander Mustafa Hamdan, former general security chief Jamil al-Sayed and ex-internal security head Ali al-Hage.

However, Metlev had said he believed they were "only part of the picture" that made up the plot to kill Hariri.

The investigator's mandate would expire in October and he had accused Syria of trying to stall his work, leading to calls from the international community to Damascus to co-operate.

Syria had denied any involvement in the assassination, which sparked a wave of public protests, prompting the departure of Syrian troops in April and transforming Lebanese politics.

- AFP