Retired British Officer Testifies at STL on Mitsubishi Items Found in Seabed
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
A retired British police officer testified at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Friday on the operations that took place to recover pieces from the seabed in the vicinity of the area where ex-Premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated on Feb. 14, 2005.
Witness Malcolm Wilson, who used to work in the anti-terror unit of British police, briefed the court on a report he had written on the search of identified open sea area, swimming pool, and marina surrounding the St. Georges Yacht Club.
The search, he said, was carried out by two British divers and a group of Lebanese divers, most of them volunteers.
Wilson said among the items recovered at the time was part of a vehicle that had a Mitsubishi logo.
The witness searched among many items displayed in the courtroom the alleged part of the Mitsubishi found in the sea.
But after a thorough inspection, he implied that the logo disappeared following corrosion and rust.
A photograph taken at the time was shown to the court but no Mitsubishi sign was visible.
The witness said among the recovered items was part of a vehicle hubcap found in the sea in later days. The prosecution claims it belongs to the Mitsubishi.
Wilson told the court that divers even dived in the ladies swimming pool in the area because it was filled with seawater.
He said all items found in the seabed were handed to the U.N. team investigating Hariri's murder before the establishment of the STL.
The prosecution claims that Hariri's motorcade was targeted by a suicide bomber driving a white Mitsubishi van. But the defense of four Hizbullah suspects, who are being tried in absentia in the case, says that the possibility of an underground explosion is being ignored.
After further examination of pieces taken from the seabed, it was determined that they indeed belong to a Mitsubishi vehicle.
The STL session was adjourned to 11 a.m. Beirut time on Monday when two Prosecution witnesses are scheduled to give their testimonies.
07 February 2014, 13:53
45
Justice on its way... Will probably take time, maybe a lot of time, but a verdict will be reached hopefully someday... Too bad we opted for imunity for assassinations during the war, kamal jumblat, bashir gemayel, rashid karame, rene moawad.... But at least it has started...
Many chupachups will be needed...
07 February 2014, 15:27
53
yea hopefully our grandsons will know the truth, if anyone still cares by then.
unless they play it JFK style.
07 February 2014, 18:09
24
We would know the truth much sooner mowaten if HA cooperates and hands over all suspects (instead of hiding them and liquidating any potential witnesses).
07 February 2014, 14:19
35
Well at least it's a tribunal, with public audiance, while were are waiting to deliver mamlouk an official invitation, while we don't look for butross harb assassination attempt, while hashem salman was killed in fron of our armed force and no official investigation was lauched...
Bravo flame, u know in all tribunal all the people who felt threatened try to difigure the tribunal arguments and that is part of justice, but in the end a veridict will be issued, milosevich, rwanda... Many exemples... Anyway go have some chupachups man, relax, don't get frustrated, it will take long time so chill... But that's a start...
07 February 2014, 15:00
63
even on the simplest and least significant elements they manage to be ridiculously incoherent... and because it's a "tribunal" with a "public audience" (only the parts they want to show though) you will swallow the pile of crap and say thank you.
07 February 2014, 15:07
34
Ok... Bravo mowaten, STL is worsless, our judiciary system is much better, bravo.. But guess what STL started and it will continu till the verdict, u will try to discredit it everyday (like they did for milosevich, like they did for ruwanda...) and it is also fine, that is part of democracy and liberty of speach, but don't go frustrated cause it is gonna be a long way and in all case they will continu till the verdict is issued (like rwanda, like milosevich...)
So take it easy man, and u to, go have some chipachups...
07 February 2014, 15:07
34
Ok... Bravo mowaten, STL is worsless, our judiciary system is much better, bravo.. But guess what STL started and it will continu till the verdict, u will try to discredit it everyday (like they did for milosevich, like they did for ruwanda...) and it is also fine, that is part of democracy and liberty of speach, but don't go frustrated cause it is gonna be a long way and in all case they will continu till the verdict is issued (like rwanda, like milosevich...)
So take it easy man, and u to, go have some chipachups...
07 February 2014, 15:18
53
stop playing dumb. YES they -could- be a hundred times better than our courts, but NO, they are not god-sent innocent angels. they're working with an agenda of dividing lebanon and turning us against each other, and you're falling right into it.
07 February 2014, 15:23
53
just take note while we're at it, that until now they have yet shown ZERO proof, zero elements that link the accused to the crime. they cant tell who bought the phone lines (in tripoli), they cant tell who bought the van (in tripoli) and they can't even tell who the suicide bomber was.
they are wasting time and turning around the pot with silly stories of metal parts that may, or may not, have had a mistubishi logo. who the heck cares? and how come all those big shot super detectives are not even able to take a picture that shows a logo they claim to have seen?
if even on trivial things like that they're not able to be conclusive, it tells you a lot.
07 February 2014, 16:53
23
Rwanda verdict came 20 years after, u know justice is not really show off, it is real life not movies and i'm glad (even if borring) that they go over every small details, but u know it will follw it's path.. So take it easy man..
Plus who are u kidding, do u really think that we need a tribunal to get divided? Do u think that we are united?? March8 figures use to call aoun trator not far ago and now they are best friends.. Same apply to aoun march 14, march 8..they are mostly united by benefits and how to split wealth so...
But at least one of hundreeds of assassination will be solved, impunity must not exist if we really want to build a country..
And now please, relax and go hv some chupachups,...
07 February 2014, 18:19
32
i'm not saying we were all lovey-dovey, but look back at 2005 (pre feb14), and look at us today. it's pretty clear isnt it?
hariri and nasrallah were very close, they met every week, in private meetings. what politicians do that? blood enemies?
hariri supported hezbollah's weapons and let them run the resistance, while he was running the economy and government. with those two together no fitna was even imaginable.
07 February 2014, 18:49
52
well anonyme if you want to think that i dont think there's anything i can say. this is purely an assumption on your behalf, based on nothing tangible. you're free to think what you want, but that's not factual at all.
07 February 2014, 14:19
44
Yes, and a suicide bomber's ID card magically appears at the blast scene in dahyeh without any damage while his body and vehicle are shred to pieces... and that was a blast 10-50x weaker than Hariri's...
In any case, I don't see how and why the logo is relevant if the parts happen to be that of a Mitsubishi van anyway. An easily provable fact...
07 February 2014, 14:22
45
The camaro didnt go through a two ton explosion ya fadhal inti.
07 February 2014, 14:59
43
"part of a vehicle that had a Mitsubishi logo."
"A photograph taken at the time was shown to the court but no Mitsubishi sign was visible."
bomb or not, did it have a mistubishi logo yes or no?
07 February 2014, 15:09
43
Logo or no logo ... did a bomb explode or not ? What a stupid and irrelevant point to fixate on when you have NOTHING going for you to defend your terrorist criminal murdering party of Kalashnikov who has no drop of Lebanese blood in them !
07 February 2014, 15:15
43
LOOOL go play elsewhere habibi, mich fadilak you and your empty theoretic.
you're pathetic and so obvious, trying to divert the subject because you can see that they are serving you a halfhearted turd, but you're too happy to eat it so you pretend it's a pie.
07 February 2014, 15:39
43
Empty Rhetoric :) You are an expert on the topic it seems... yalla, continue your dissertation on Mistubishi logos as it seems this is your most powerful argument to prove Hezbollah's innocence...
Meanwhile, your General Aoun is divorcing from Hezbollah... very unhappy marriage it seems with Hassan abusing of his wife Michella. Thank god for (un)civil mariage... I wonder who will get to keep custody of you and FT :) If you had a choice, who would you stick to ?
07 February 2014, 16:28
42
you bum, there is no need to prove Hezbollah's innocence. they are innocent until proven guilty, and it doesnt seem like the clowns are anywhere near that, THEY are the ones struggling with the mitsubishi logo in case you hadnt realized.
10 February 2014, 13:57
00
Not when they are accused and on the bench ! They need to defend themselves...
There is no "struggling" as you wishfully hope ... there is the irrelevance of the logo which you cramp on to as your only defense !
07 February 2014, 14:58
40
while I'm all for the STL and the pursuit of the truth, I have to say that this witness is pitiful! he brings nothing to the table, no incriminating evidence from this guy unfortunately. when the government in power cleans up the murder on the same day using fire hozes( just like bhutto assassination in pakistan) it will be really hard "proving" beyond reasonable doubt that anyone did it with witnesses and weak evidence like this.
07 February 2014, 15:25
33
so they should have let the cars burn? wouldnt that destroy more evidence?
and just wondering, in your opinion, would those fire hoses make logos disappear from metal parts?
07 February 2014, 16:21
21
big difference between extinguishing flames and washing away evidence and blood. look your argument that the Assad regime is better than islamists is very valid, but don't try to convince us that it is a democratic regime with strong human rights values as we all know (including you) that this is not the case. doesn't matter what me and you believe, bottom line the prosecution has to do much more than that pitiful witness of theirs or their hidden witnesses to "prove" beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants are guilty as charged.
07 February 2014, 16:31
32
i agree on the fact that the prosecution is far from having proven anything till now, but i dont see the relation with assad and islamists here. !?
and what do you rely on to say that they didn't simply extinguish the flames? jsame thing as with the prosecution, if you're going to say that they washed away evidence, you need something solid to prove it.
07 February 2014, 16:36
22
the reason I mentioned the Assad regime is because it was in power in Lebanon back then and it is not surprising that a government under their dictatorship would assassinate opposition and wash away the evidence as is done in many places in the world. however yes since this is a court of law and a court of opinion the prosecution should try to prove that point too! everything must be proven in a court of law!
07 February 2014, 15:51
42
No they wouldnt but tampering with evidence could, plus if you look at your cars logo its not part of the metal frame ya zak zak, an explosion cold destroy it, make it fly etc...
07 February 2014, 16:14
31
what happened to the remors back then that syrian mukhabarat removed the cars, and took them to syria? just wondering.
also has the underground bomb theory been disproven, or what?
personally I do believe HA played a big part in the assassination. we all know that, atleast, there is a high percentage ha was involved. I just hope lebanon has a soft landing from all this.
I think the reporting on the trail is making it look bad. nothing is put in to context. that is the fault of naharnet not the court, I hope. im guessing the prosecution is laying out all the details of that day, tho it sounds boring and irrelevant, its procedure to explain everything step by step. im guessing.
07 February 2014, 16:33
32
no we dont "all know that". until now there is absolutely no proof that HA has anything to do with it. even the accused in the trial have not been linked to the crime with any evidence. so please, refrain from issuing "street judgements" because those are nothing more than propaganda.
07 February 2014, 16:28
42
Aha! The prosecution's whole care hinged on the Mitsubishi logo and now they tell us it's disappeared, j'accuse it's all a global cosmic planetary fabrication, a circus with white elecphants, Hariri was obliviously blown up, as eagle eyed, shrewd mouwaten confirms, by someone from Tripoli where the phones and the Mitsubishi van were brought, yeah.. so the Mitsubishi van was the car bomb then.. humm if that's fact who needs the logo.. it doesn't matter obviously it was jabhat al nusra's takfiri abou adas who was the suicide bomber, yeah.. that's why Qatar's zionist takfiri al jazeera refused to air his video claiming responsibility, yeah.. so Jamil Sayed had to threaten them and other networks to air the video or else, yeah.. and the security forces removed crucial evidence that night was not to destroy it but because they were neat freaks, yeah that's the ticket!
07 February 2014, 18:08
42
as i said above, this is a trivial detail, but being unable to be credible on that, and spending a day contradicting themselves and showing pictures that disprove what they claim shows the lack of credibility and seriousness.
and also, maybe more importantly, this drama and false debate seems to be covering up for the fact that there are yet no evidence.
07 February 2014, 18:27
42
no i dont prefer that, but HA tends to take time to investigate, they provided some evidence that the STL ignored (the records of the drones that followed hariri's every move, and that israel admitted were authentic, for instance, was never even considered by the STL)
also, and most importantly, HA has a track record of nailing the culprits, spies, and agents. i think they are much more effective and credible than the STL who has shown nothing until now but bias and unprofessionalism.
07 February 2014, 18:53
22
anonyme i usually tend to respect you, despite the fact that we disagree completely, but when i prove you something tens of times with sources and you come back saying the same thing again, knowing it is false, i get serious doubts about your moral integrity.
it is a FACT that HA handed them to the lebanese justice (because they didnt want to hand it to an entity they dont recognize as legitimate) and the lebanese justice handed it to the STL. so stop finding excuses for them all the time.
07 February 2014, 19:05
22
also, if they were interested, they would have requested them from israel, or asked the US to submit the data they had from their surveillance aircraft that were in the area when hariri was assassinated. they didnt deny, they simply refused to hand them over. all while pressuring others to collaborate with the STL...
07 February 2014, 19:08
32
anonyme is right ... the STL is still waiting for evidence from hezbis as they did not send everything they claimed to have...
check your facts mooowaten....
07 February 2014, 20:07
21
they keep piling weak argument over weak argument. i'm no lawyer but i could have done a better job than that
07 February 2014, 16:45
32
i read it, but the most interesting thing is how you came up with that interpretation! can you quote any part of the article that says what you claim? takfiris didnt even exist back then, and are not even mentioned in the article.
as for hezbollah, the author tries to paint a ashoura celebration as some sort of conspiracy, but even then, how did you manage to turn a demonstration into "terrorist tactics" ??
and finally, i hope you noticed that line in your article:
Consequentially, writes Al-Nahar journalist Nicolas Naseef, Hezbollah is perceived as "the only Lebanese armed group that does not have Lebanese blood on its hands."
:)
07 February 2014, 16:58
32
oh and also, you should beware of who you use as source :) the article you posted was published by the "United States Committee for a Free Lebanon".
have a look at their website http://www.freelebanon.org/
and look at all the names on the articles they publish:
-Shimon Shapira (retired israeli brigadier general, senior research associate at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
-Matthew R.J. Brodsky (Director of Policy for the Jewish Policy Center)
-Shlomo Avineri (שלמה אבינרי) is an Israeli political scientist. He is Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
...
doesnt sound very "Lebanese" to me, eh?
07 February 2014, 17:40
32
1- i dont know what i would call it, but definitely not "terrorist tactics including pet Takfiris & Hezbollah"
hezbollah had nothing to do with it, and ahbash are sufis, which are the opposite of takfiris since they preached a rapprochement between sunni and shia.
as for the picture, i dont know the details or the context, it seems al-ahbash staged pro-syrian rallies in april 2001, but despite the showing of clubs it doesnt seem they actually made use of violence. in any case, it is is irrelevant. as i said above, it has nothing to do with HA.
2- a counter-rally is terrorism??? please get serious, we're not kids here. next you're going to say that voting differently than you is also terrorism.
07 February 2014, 17:49
32
3a- the US embassy was hit in the midst of a war where tens of thousands of lebanese were killed by israelis with full US support. phosphorus was being rained on civilians with the blessing and sponsoring of the US.
also, according to US records, most of the dead were CIA agents, which are not supposed to be in an embassy in the first place. when a building is being used for military/espionage/assassinations purposes, it cannot claim to be a sanctuary.
3b- in may 2008 there were a dozen dead in beirut, all were fighters. you like to pretend it was one sided, because HA swiftly won, but there was an armed force in front of them, and RPGs and machine guns were used by both sides. the dead civilians were mainly killed in aley, tripoli (bab el tabbaneh attacked jabal mohsen in vengeance) and in halba (the SSNP office was surrounded and overtaken, and they killed the prisoners by baching their heads with bricks. i have the videos if you want to see them)
07 February 2014, 18:10
32
The April 18, 1983 United States embassy bombing was a suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 63 people, mostly embassy and CIA staff members, several soldiers and one Marine. 17 of the dead were Americans. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission up to that time, and is thought of as marking the beginning of anti-U.S. attacks by Islamist groups.
The attack came in the wake of the intervention of a Multinational Force, made up of Western countries, including the U.S., in the Lebanese Civil War, to try to restore order and central government authority.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_United_States_embassy_bombing
07 February 2014, 18:05
32
that is not true, especially the part were you gratuitously involve hezbollah in it. you tried to use that article (maybe hoping now one would read it to find out?) but this doesnt stick. even the ZIONIST propaganda article doesnt say that.
07 February 2014, 18:09
32
i thought iran was broke? they are now richer than the STL and hariri and the saudis?
07 February 2014, 20:01
11
Spending like a drunken sailor comes to mind, and one thing does not preclude the other. North Korea is flat broke it's people are starving yet the government there always finds the cash for it's militaristic ventures. Militaristic societies are broke because instead of spending on the welfare of their people they send on the regime, the doctrine, the ideology and the military that keeps it in charge. The USSR always found funds to support revolutionizes in far away foreign land while the people in the Soviet Union queued for bread. Iran's Rouhani and Zarif's speeches in Davos the other day were very telling. I hope they turn out to be more Havel less Dubček.
07 February 2014, 18:16
41
Why bother and spend all these millions? The truth is already out
07 February 2014, 19:54
21
pooor FT , thriving on insults as usual, the best you can do... sign of weak people unable to discuss...
the weapon of the weak and the cowards like you, poor insignificant thing....
now go play with the babies your age...
07 February 2014, 20:09
21
lol you call me a dog, and cry foul because FT tells you the truth about yourself?
it's really obvious, you're really not smart, and i dont mean that as an insult.
07 February 2014, 19:19
32
I can just see the Hizbi's swallowing the 'HA didnt do it coz the logo of mitsubishi was missing!!", inno any Jaffar couldve picked it up and put it on his mercedes.
07 February 2014, 21:21
10
Momo's employers are obviously terrified of the STL. Why else would they have Momo post 29 comments on the this article alone?
It's quite obvious to momo that if no-one can find the logo, then we must conclude that Hezbollah did not commit this crime.
07 February 2014, 21:25
11
Translation of Flamethrower comments from 1/17/14:
1. Yes, Hezbollah killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
2. Let's just pretend it didn't happen
3. Let's also pretend that Hezbollah didn't kill Gemayel, Tueni, Kassir, Hawi, Eid, Ghanem, Eido, al Hassan, and Chatah
4. Let's pretend some more that they didn't try to kill Murr, Hamadeh, Chidiac, Shehadeh, and Harb
5. After all this pretending, let's allow the killers be part of the cabinet with the people they tried to kill
6. Let's allow Hezbollah to decide if and when they want to stop killing their political opponents
7. Let's allow Hezbollah to decide if and when they want to disarm
08 February 2014, 07:23
10
Spoken like a real Iranian. Southern, I think you belong in Iran in their Holy City of Qom-- with all the bearded medieval Islamic clerics and women who are covered. Maybe you can even join the Fashion police and beat a few men who do not have beards, It is because of fools like you that Lebano9n is being taken back to the stone age.
