BEIRUT: Syria has ordered the arrest of 33 people over false testimony given in the UN-backed probe into the assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, a general held over the killing and his lawyers said. Jamil Sayyed, the former head of Lebanon's security services, said the top investigating judge in Damascus had issued arrest warrants “against judges, security officers, politicians, journalists and other Lebanese, Arab and foreign officials and individuals.” Among those named in the warrants is Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who led the early stages of the UN investigation into Hariri's 2005 assassination in a massive bombing, Sayyed said in a weekend statement. The Lebanese defendants include the head of Lebanon's police, Ashraf Rifi, deputy Marwan Hamadeh, top prosecutor Saeed Mirza and former justice minister Charles Rizk. Fassih Achi, one of Sayyed's attorneys in Damascus, confirmed Monday that arrest warrants had been issued, adding the case was being handled in a “secret fashion”. The warrants are sure to strike a blow to relations between Damascus and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri - son of the slain leader - who has sought in the past year to mend fences with Syria, observers said. They also come with tensions high in Lebanon over unconfirmed reports the UN tribunal is set to indict members of the militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, in connection with Hariri's murder. “This is a shocking development in terms of relations between the prime minister and the Syrian leadership,” Oqab Sakr, a deputy in Hariri's pro-Western parliamentary majority, said Monday. Several observers said the warrants were clearly politically motivated and carried no legal weight in Lebanon as the crime in question took place on Lebanese soil and the complainant as well as most of the defendants are Lebanese. “By doing this, the Syrians are trying to pressure the government to change its position on the STL,” said Samir Al-Jisr, another deputy in Hariri's coalition, referring to the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon. “But we cannot back down on the tribunal, even if we wanted to,” Jisr added. Sayyed in his complaint alleged the UN probe was based on fabricated testimony aimed at implicating Syria and its supporters in Lebanon in Hariri's killing. – Agence France
