Siddiq Says he Owns 7 Tapes that Implicate Top Syrian Officers in Hariri’s Murder

“False Witness” Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq has unveiled that he holds seven important recordings that implicate top Syrian officers in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

Siddiq called al-Jadid TV’s anchorman George Salibi during his talk show Sunday night and made the revelation. He said he is going to deliver the tapes to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon at The Hague.

He exposed one of the recordings in which a high-ranking Syrian officer and his subordinate discuss about Abu Adas and how he refuses to execute orders to carry out the assassination because he only kills infidels (koffar).

The high-ranking officer then asked his subordinate: “You animal, didn’t you tell him that Hariri is an infidel?”

Siddiq said many people in the March 8 coalition would recognize the officer which he refused to name. Media reports said the man is Brig. Gen. Rustom Ghazaleh, the former head of Syria's military intelligence in Lebanon.

The "false witness" told the TV station that he obtained the recordings from Syria's Interior Minister from 2004 to 2005, and long-time head of Syria's security apparatus in Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan.

Siddiq then said he had warned Syrian President Bashar Assad several times about the Abu Adas issue and Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otari had sent an envoy to Spain to negotiate with the “false witness.”

Asked whether he had met with Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri in Spain, Siddiq confirmed that such a meeting took place at the request of the STL.

He stressed that the talks were his only meeting with Hariri and Col. Wissam Hassan. He said that both were skeptical about him and did not believe him. Siddiq added that he never met them again.

Salibi questioned his motives behind coming up with such information after five years of silence and on the eve of the parliamentary consultations to name a new premier.

Siddiq’s revelation also came after broadcasts on al-Jadid of interviews conducted by U.N. investigators and a conversation between Hariri and Siddiq in Spain.