Naharnet Newsdesk - Vienna Interrogation Delayed, Jumblat Warns Against Attempt to Rescue 4 Detained Generals

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Vienna Interrogation Delayed, Jumblat Warns Against Attempt to Rescue 4 Detained Generals

The interrogation of the five Syrian officers linked to Rafik Hariri's assassination has been delayed till next week, An Nahar reported on Wednesday.
The Austrian government has said the five have not been flown into Vienna yet, declaring that the state of Austria has "gone on an utmost state of alert against possible terrorist operations" during the conduct of the interrogation.

Syrian officials were quoted as citing logistics and the need to hire defense attorneys to the officers for the delay. An Nahar said the interrogation would probably begin next week.

An Nahar's report came amid a quick ebb of the "sound bomb" Syria has detonated by unveiling the 'Masked Witness' Husam Husam with a total retraction of his testimony that he gave to the Detlev Mehlis commission in its Monteverde headquarters near Beirut.

Druze leader Walid Jumblat said the Syrians "finding themselves in a suffocating corner have given a sudden propaganda gimmick in an attempt to derail the Hariri probe."

Jumblat denied seeing Husam Husam in Monteverde. The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party said he only met Mehlis once when he traveled to Moukhtara on June 28 at 5 pm.

"Detlev Mehlis came to take my testimony and he did take it and sent it back to me about 45 days later to sign it," Jumblat said.

"That was the only time I saw Mehlis and I have never ever been in Monteverde."

Jumblat also said he had called Saad Hariri and Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa plus all other security commanders, asking them "not to sleep on silk."

Jumblat warned that security has to be upgraded and tightened to the utmost at the central government Roumieh prison so that no attempt would be made to rescue the four generals who commanded Lebanon's main security services when Hariri was assassinated.

The four are: Jamil Sayyed, Raymond Azar, Mustafa Hamdan and Ali Hajj. They are among the 12 suspects the Lebanese authorities hold in custody in the Hariri case at the Mehlis commission's instructions.

Media reports in Beirut said Detlev Mehlis may summon Husam to Vienna for re-interrogation and possible meetings with the five intelligence officers.

Beirut, 30 Nov 05, 09:00


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