THE RELEASE on Wednesday of four Lebanese generals suspected of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri has cast more uncertainty over whether there will be justice regarding an attack that shook Lebanon, the tremors from which are being felt today as the nation prepares for fractious parliamentary elections.
A UN-backed tribunal ordered the release of the generals, with ties to Syrian security services, due to lack of evidence. They had been held in the capital, Beirut, for nearly four years.
Pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen, ordering the immediate release from the tribunal’s headquarters in The Hague, said a key witness recanted an earlier statement that alleged the generals had a hand in planning the massive suicide blast that killed Hariri and 22 others.
The generals – Mustafa Hamdan, former head of the presidential guard; Jamil al-Sayyed, security services director; Ali al-Hajj, domestic security chief; and Raymond Azar, military intelligence chief – have been in jail without formal charges since 2005.
A UN inquiry team said after the killings it had evidence that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were involved.
Syria has denied involvement. Subsequent UN reports refrained from making direct accusations.
Fransen’s special UN tribunal began its inquiry last month, and a conclusion is expected to take years. Noting the politically charged environment in Lebanon, Fransen urged that the four generals “be kept under strict security measures to ensure their safety”.
Gunshots echoed across Beirut after the announcement of the release. Saad Hariri, a member of parliament and the son of the slain prime minister, said he was not disappointed and urged his followers to respect the tribunal’s decisions. “The international tribunal that started now will pursue justice . . . and protect Lebanon,” he said in a televised speech after the tribunal’s decision, reiterating his “political accusation” of Syria.
Mr Hariri, who heads the Western-backed March 14th coalition, had supported the generals’ imprisonment, holding them responsible not just for the assassination but also for the tight control exerted by security services on local political life during the period of Syrian military control over the country.
The Hizbullah-led coalition government, backed by Syria and Iran, said the generals’ detention was politicised by anti-Syrian parties. “This is the moment of truth,” Hassan Fadlallah, a Hizbullah MP, told reporters on Lebanese television. “This is the day of the fall of the group, which based its judgment on falsification.” No date has been set for the tribunal’s first trial. The prosecutor has not filed indictments in the case. – (LA Times-Washington Post service)