12
Australians Sought In Murder Of Lebanon's HaririLEBANON's Justice Minister Adnan
Addoum said on Friday that authorities were hunting
for twelve
Australian men wanted over the
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq
al-Hariri.
Addoum said that all the suspects hold the Australian
passport and that six of them left Beirut for Australia
hours after Monday's deadly blast, adding that police
found traces of explosives on aircraft seats.
Hariri was killed in a huge explosion in Beirut which
also claimed the lives of additional 16 people. The
minister added that there are two more Australians who
tried to leave Lebanon after the assassination but missed
the flight for unknown reasons. Their location is not
known.
Interpol agreed to interrogate the twelve suspects,
Addoum said. The minister didn't provide further details
and it was unclear what role the men played in the
attack. Reports earlier this week said that the
Australian government was helping Lebanon investigate
Hariri's murder.
In other developments, Lebanon's Tourism Minister
Farid al-Khazan resigned, saying that his decision
was in line with his convictions and his "obligation to
the country. There have been mounting calls for the whole
Lebanese cabinet to resign over Hariri's
assassination.
Also Friday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
appointed his brother-in-law, Major-General Asef
Shawkat, as head of military intelligence to replace
retiring Major-General Hassan Khalil. Hariris
family demands probe into his murder Hariri's family
issued a statement on Thursday calling for launching an
international investigation into his assassination.
"We call upon the international community to promptly
take control of this issue and form an international
investigation commission, since the assassination of
Rafik Hariri is a terrorist act targeting Lebanon's
stability and national unity, "Al Hariri's family said in
a statement released on Thursday. "We will not spare any
effort or means to find the perpetrators of this crime no
matter what their affiliation is," the statement
said.
Earlier, the Lebanese leadership rejected calls to let
international experts launch the investigation, but the
military judiciary now says that Swiss experts on
explosives and DNA will participate in the
investigation.
On Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
William Burns called on Lebanon to ask for foreign
help to facilitate the inquiry. "We believe the
investigation has to be serious and credible and those
responsible have to be brought to justice swiftly and
that international expertise can be brought to help
ensure this kind of investigation," he said during his
visit to Beirut to attend the funeral of Al Hariri.
Amid tight security Lebanon buried on Wednesday its
former Prime Minister Rafiq Al Hariri, credited with
restoring the country after the civil war. The former
Lebanese premier was buried at the towering Mohammed
al-Amin mosque in central Beirut, the construction of
which has been funded by him.
Al Hariri's family and political supporters asked the
Lebanese government officials not to attend the funeral.
And while the U.S. and Israel pointed finger of suspicion
at Syria, Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to
the United States, said the Syrian government wasn't
involved in Al Hariri's assassination, and called the
former Lebanese Premier a constructive moderate. "Why
would Syria even look with hostility to a person like
Rafiq Al Hariri, who is actually helping to mediate
between us and the Lebanese opposition?" said
Moustapha.
David
Irving comments:
UM, now where have we heard
before about Mossad's interest in obtaining new Zealand
and Australian passports for carrying out hit missions in
the Middle East? I wonder whether Canberra will ever
release the results of its own investigation of this
case. I somehow doubt it.
|