Tribunal to seek transfer of detained security chiefs to Hague in May

BEIRUT: Registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Robin Vincent said on Sunday that the court will ask Lebanon to transfer four generals suspected of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to The Hague. The Lebanese authorities would be asked to hand over the generals two months after the court begins operations on March 1, Vincent said during an evening interview with Al-Arabiya television, adding that he did not forsee any complications in the process of their transfer. "I don't think it will be difficult," he told the Saudi-based station.

Hariri was assassinated along with 22 others in a massive car bomb in Beirut on February 14, 2005. The four men in custody - LAF Intelligence head Raymond Azar, Mustapha Hamdan of the presidential guard, Internal Security Forces Director Ali Hajj and Jamil al-Sayyed from General Security - were arrested in 2005 under the orders of former chief investigator Detlev Mehlis.

"The tribunal will file a request to the Lebanese authorities to receive all documents [related to the investigation] and the detained men two months after it starts work," Vincent said in the interview.

The Special Tribunal will take over from the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC), whose mandate comes to an end at the end of this week. Vincent, a British national, was the first official to take up his post at the Tribunal after being appointed in March 2008.

"Witnesses in the case will be granted new IDs and will be transferred to other places," the registrar said, adding that the tribunal had signed agreements with a number of countries to host witnesses.

Unnamed administrative officials told the Hariri-owned Al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Monday that the trial would be broadcast on Lebanese television and radio with a 30 minute delay for legal and security reasons. The tribunal's website would report court proceedings in Arabic, English and French, the sources added.

Work at IIIC has been winding down ahead of the Special Tribunal's launching next Sunday. Chief Investigator Daniel Bellemare visited Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday afternoon to bid farewell to the two leaders before he leaves to The Hague.

Future Movement MP Samir al-Jisr meanwhile reiterated his support for the UN tribunal during a meeting Monday with Lebanese expatriates in Ghana. "We want the Special Tribunal because we think there are factions from outside Lebanon implicated in the crime, and Lebanon can only bring them to international justice," he said in a likely reference to Syria.

Assailants steal database from office of Sayyed's lawyer

BEIRUT: A computer containing important files was stolen from the office of attorney Akram Azouri.

The state-run National News Agency said unknown assailants ransacked Azouri's office and stole a computer containing a database for detainee Jamil al-Sayyed.

Hariri has been detained since 2005 for involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.

Azouri, who filed a lawsuit against the unknown suspects, said some cash was also stolen from his office.

Policemen and investigators dispatched to the scene said the perpetrators likely got into the office with the use of a master key since the padlock was not broken.

The National News Agency reported that the incident took place on the eve of a farewell tour by Chief UN investigator Daniel Bellemare.

In comments published on Monday in An-Nahar newspaper, the international tribunal's registrar, Robin Vincent, announced that Lebanese authorities would be asked to transfer to The Hague the four generals held in connection with Hariri's murder as soon as the court starts functioning. - The Daily Star