Government Backs Detention of Ex-Generals in Hariri Murder

by **Admin** Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:47 am

Prime
Minister Fouad Saniora's government has conveyed a letter to the U.N.
office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights backing the detention
of the four pro-Syrian ex-generals charged with involvement in the
assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

"The
arrest of the four former security chiefs and four other people is in
compliance with Lebanese and international laws," said the letter.

The
four generals are: Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hamdan, ex-commander of the
Presidential Guards Brigade, Brig. Gen. Raymond Azar, ex-director
general of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, ex-chief of
General Security, and Maj. Gen. Ali Hajj, former director general of
the Internal Security Forces.

The
letter said that a decision by Investigating Magistrate Saqr Saqr to
hold the seven detainees in custody "was in line with articles 108 and
363 of the Lebanese penal code."

"Articles
108 and 363 are clear and state that the period of reserve detention is
unlimited if the case has been assigned to the Judicial Council and if
the crime reflects on state security," the letter explained.

It
said Saqr wished to keep the seven detainees in captivity, "in order to
protect their lives and prevent them from seeking refuge in another
country, which is likely to have harmful effects on the overall probe."

The
letter said that Saqr sees that their detention is essential so long as
the international investigation committee and the Lebanese judiciary
have not completed the probe into Hariri's Feb. 2005 murder.