Hariri probe witness hiding in Europe: report

by **Admin** Sun Apr 13, 2008 6:41 am

A
key Syrian witness in the probe into former Lebanese premier Rafiq
Hariri's murder is hiding in an undisclosed location in Europe, a
Kuwaiti newspaper quoted him as saying on Thursday.

"I
am living in a secret hideout, close to France and the international
tribunal, and I am well," Mohammed Zuheir al-Saddiq told Al-Seyassah by
telephone, after he left his Paris home and disappeared.

Saddiq
said he went into hiding to protect his life, adding that he sent
several letters to the international tribunal and the Lebanese
judiciary informing them that he had faced three assassination attempts.

Saddiq,
a former Syrian intelligence official, was detained in October 2005 in
a Paris suburb in connection with the February 2005 assassination of
Hariri.

France
refused to extradite him to Lebanon because it had not been given
guarantees that he would not face the death penalty if convicted.

Saddiq's
family says it has had no contact with him for two months and his
brother, in a Syrian newspaper interview published on Wednesday,
accused France of involvement in killing him.

Newspaper
reports in 2006 quoted Saddiq as saying that Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad and his then Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud ordered
Hariri's killing in a massive Beirut car bombing.