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Hariri probe commission says witness gives no false testimony
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-29 10:27
The UN commission probing the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik
Hariri on Monday dismissed allegations that Husam Taher Husam, a Syrian witness,
was forced to give false testimony under coercion.
The commission said in a statement that the witness volunteered to give
testimony and they had neither imposed any threat nor offered any reward.
Husam, a Syrian who said he had served as an agent for Syrian intelligence in
Lebanon, said in an interview on Syrian TV that Hariri's son Saad Hariri had
forced him to testify falsely to the UN probe.
Husam said Saad had told him that he was convinced that Syria was behind the
murder and needed him to proof it. The witness added that he had been tortured,
and offered 1.3 million US dollars by Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan
al-Sabaa.
The UN commission said Husam, in his signed testimony on September 1, swore
that he was making the testimony on his own will and would be punished by
Lebanese laws if found telling lies.
It also said the witness had repeatedly voiced fears that he and his family
could be persecuted by Syrian security agents.
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