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February 2010 - News
January 2010

Syria requests extradition of 25 Lebanese for questioning over Hariri murder

Syria asked Lebanon for the extradition of 25 officials for questioning over the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the AFP reported on December 9. The request comes after former Lebanese Security Chief Jamil al-Sayyed filed a lawsuit in Damascus in connection with his four-year detention over the murder.

“The foreign ministry last night received from the Syrian embassy in Beirut 25 letters addressed to various people sought for questioning in connection with Hariri’s murder,” the AFP quoted an unnamed Lebanese official as saying.

Syria’s request to question the Lebanese officials comes after Sayyed launched a lawsuit last October, claiming that the officials and five Syrian witnesses had lied about his alleged involvement in the assassination. Sayyed was set free in April 2009 along with three other generals after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague ordered their release on grounds that there was insufficient evidence to indict them.

“We filed the lawsuit in Syria because the Lebanese justice system and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon decided they had no jurisdiction over the matter,” Sayyed’s lawyer and son Malek Sayyed told the AFP.

The request was still under consideration by Lebanese judicial authorities when Syria Today went to print. Unnamed Lebanese officials quoted in a report by the Daily Star on December 12 said the response would be based on the Lebanese-Syrian Judicial Agreement and the Lebanese Code of Criminal Procedure, and not on political considerations.

“The judiciary is dealing seriously with the warrants, but cannot contradict the legal procedures to be followed; thus its response will be based on the legitimacy of the Syrian warrant,” the Daily Star quoted an anonymous judicial source as saying.

Those called for questioning include Lebanese Police Chief Ashraf Rifi and Prosecutor-General Saeed Mirza.