Naharnet

Legal Expert Says Nasrallah’s Evidence Baseless, Computers Document Belongs to UNTSO

A document aired on al-Manar TV allegedly proving that U.N. investigators probing ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder case had transferred IT equipment to Israel is baseless, a legal expert hinted to An Nahar daily published Sunday.

The expert said that the document, which was aired during a televised speech made by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday night, has a UNTSO stamp.

The UNTSO is an organization founded on May 29, 1948 for peacekeeping in the Middle East.

According to Nasrallah, the document provided proof that 97 computers were transported by investigators through Naqoura to Israel and not through the airport or Beirut port at a time when Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare was still the head of the committee probing Hariri’s murder.

Nasrallah also accused top investigators, including the first U.N. chief investigator, Detlev Mehlis, and his deputy, Gerhard Lehmann, of corruption.

The tribunal is full of "financial and moral corruption," Nasrallah said.

“We will reveal a case ... where Lehman sold confessions in return for money,” the Hizbullah leader said.

Al-Manar later aired footage of Lehman allegedly receiving money in return for the documents related to the probe into Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.

The legal expert told An Nahar, however, that the document and footage have no legal basis and only indicate “a long political battle.”

The video presentations also claimed to show how members of the international tribunal had affiliations with Western intelligence agencies, including Robert Baer, who Nasrallah said was a CIA agent.


Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/9619