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New 'evidence' in Hariri probe
12/12/2005 21:09 - (SA)
New York - A UN enquiry report delivered to the security council on Monday cited new evidence further implicating senior Syrian officers in the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and raised doubts about Syrian co-operation in the probe.
The report was turned over to the council's 15 members and made public a day after UN chief investigator Detlev Mehlis presented his findings to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
It followed the release of a previous interim report by the Mehlis team in October which had found evidence that senior Syrian and Lebanese security officials were implicated in the murder of Hariri in Beirut last February.
Damascus has insisted it has been falsely accused of orchestrating the killing and has pledged to co-operate fully with the UN enquiry panel.
"In late 0ctober 2005, the commission was approached by another new witness, who has submitted a comprehensive and coherent statement regarding plans to assassinate Mr Hariri," the latest report said. "The witness has been assessed to be credible and the information he has submitted to be reliable."
"The statement from the witness strengthens the evidence confirmed to date against the Lebanese officers in custody, as well as high-ranked Syrian officers," it added.
The report also raised questions about Syria's commitment to get to the bottom of the Hariri slaying through its own judicial investigation.
"It is only the actual and continuous responsiveness of the Syrian authorities that will remove any doubts about Syrian substantive movement in the case," the Mehlis report said.
The 25-page document was released amid rising tensions in Lebanon sparked by the killing of anti-Syrian lawmaker Gibran Tueni.
The bomb that killed Tueni on Monday and left three others dead is the latest in a series of attacks on journalists since the Hariri assassination.
- AFP
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