27 February 2006
BEIRUT: The issue of the fate of Zuheir Mohammed Siddiq, the main Syrian witness-turned-suspect in the assassination case of former Premier Rafik Hariri, resurfaced during the weekend as a French court decided to release him.
Siddiq is one of the main witnesses on whom Detlev Mehlis, the former head of the UN probe investigating Hariri's assassination, relied for his report.
Siddiq's status was later altered from witness to suspect by the UN probe, with Damascus using the incident to discredit Mehlis' work.
Despite having lied under oath to an international investigation commission in one of the decade's most notable crimes, Siddiq was released by the French judiciary after having served five months in prison.
MP Butros Harb, a prominent member of the March 14 Forces and a lawyer, told The Daily Star Sunday that the description of the crime "varies from one country to another, and French law considers lying under oath an offence not a felony," requiring a lesser sentence.
According to Lebanese judicial sources, the French court had refused Friday a motion by the Lebanese authorities to extradite Siddiq to Lebanon. The court based its decision on the fact that Lebanon applies the death penalty, which is illegal in France and sometimes is cited to prevent extradition.
The sources added that the French authorities had asked Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk to supply them with a pledge not to apply the death penalty against Siddiq, but that Rizk refused because "the principle of separation of powers" means that the ministry must enforce laws passed by Parliament.
Lebanese State Prosecutor Saeid Mirza had formally sent a request last October to the French authorities to retrieve Siddiq, reasoning that the crime happened in Lebanon and Siddiq took part in it.
Despite the presence of an international arrest warrant against Siddiq, Harb said: "The Interpol cannot apprehend Siddiq as long as he is in France. The French authorities have to hand him over, and if it doesn't happen then the Interpol cannot arrest him. They have to wait for him to leave France to arrest him."
The same judicial sources told The Daily Star that when Lebanese Magistrate Jocelyn Tabet went to France "with a group of investigators from the UN probe, to meet with and interrogate Siddiq, they were banned from doing so because Siddiq's two lawyers refused this meeting."
Meanwhile, Mohammad Abdullah Al-Romaihi, the assistant of Qatar's foreign minister, arrived in Damascus on Sunday to discuss Syria's prospective cooperation with the UN-led investigations.
Qatar is currently a non-permanent member at the UN Security Council.
The UN Security Council has demanded, in several decisions, that Syria "extend full cooperation" to the UN-led investigations into Hariri's assassination. - With agencies
