BEIRUT (AlArabiya.net, Agencies)
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that the recent decision by a U.N. court to free the Lebanese officers held over the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri did not mean the tribunal was "honest."
Nasrallah also called anew on the Lebanese authorities to widen its investigation into the 2005 assassination of Hariri to probe a possible involvement by Hezbollah's archfoe Israel.
On Wednesday the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon based in The Hague ordered the release of four Lebanese officers jailed since almost four years saying there was insufficient evidence to charge them.
" The decision that was announced... does not mean that the court is honest " Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Their release "is proof that... their detention was political," Nasrallah said in a speech aired on Hezbollah's al-Manar television.
"The decision that was announced... does not mean that the court is honest," he said, adding that the court's decision "ended a black phase."
"But today is a new start and we will not pre-judge the court, positively or negatively," he said calling on the prosecution and the investigation to show "they are far removed from politics." |
 |
Israel is a main suspect " Whoever says that Israel did not have the motive or interest in killing Hariri would be killing Hariri a second time " Nasrallah The four officers, considered pro-Syrian, released on Wednesday are the former head of the presidential guard, Mustafa Hamdan, 53, security services director Jamil Sayyed, 58, domestic security chief Ali Hajj, 52, and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar, 56.
Nasrallah also asked the investigation into Hariri's murder to take into account the possibility that Israel was behind the massive Beirut bombing that killed the former premier and 22 other people.
"Whoever says that Israel did not have the motive or interest in killing Hariri would be killing Hariri a second time," he said.
Syria was widely blamed for Hariri's murder. Damascus has repeatedly denied any involvement but two months after the assassination it pulled its troops from Lebanon ending almost three decades of military domination.
"Does Israel have the motive? Yes of course. Does Israel have an interest? Yes of course," Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah also called on Lebanese political rivals "to cooperate to unveil the truth" about Hariri's murder.
The officers were released as Lebanon prepares for crucial parliamentary elections on June 7 that will pit the Western-backed parliamentary majority headed by Hariri's son Saad against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran. |
