BEIRUT, Nov 7: UN investigators have summoned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law to face more questioning over the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister, a Lebanese political source said on Monday.
The source said Major-General Assef Shawkat, head of Syria’s military intelligence, was on a list of six names sent to Damascus by chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, who wants to question the men at his headquarters east of Beirut.
The request will test Syria’s readiness to comply with a Security Council resolution last month that demanded that Damascus cooperate fully with the inquiry into the Feb. 14 killing of Rafik al-Hariri or face unspecified action.
It also poses a dilemma for Assad, who may have to move against members of his own circle or face possible sanctions.
Syria has denied any involvement in Hariri’s death.
Shawkat, who is married to Assad’s sister Bushra, was among 10 Syrian officials interviewed in Damascus by the UN team in September. His name appeared in Mehlis’s report to the Security Council last month.
Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said Syria would cooperate with the UN inquiry, but did not refer to Mehlis’s request.
A Syrian official, who confirmed that the request had been received, said Damascus was considering it.
Mehlis, the German prosecutor whose mandate has been extended by the Security Council until December 15, has complained that Syrian security figures appeared to give only prepared responses when interviewed earlier in Damascus.
Mehlis, whose preliminary report said Hariri’s assassination could not have been plotted without the knowledge of Syrian security officials and their Lebanese allies, has accused Damascus of failing to cooperate properly with his mission.
The resolution, sponsored by the United States, France and Britain, obliges Damascus to detain any suspects named by Mehlis and make them available to UN investigators.
Damascus has come under fierce international pressure since Hariri’s killing. It has already had to pull its troops out of neighbouring Lebanon after a 29-year military presence.
US Assistant Deputy Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Dibble told reporters in Lebanon: “The ball is now in the Syrian court to cooperate and we very much hope that the government of Syria will cooperate with Judge Mehlis in his investigation and that at the end of the day, there will be answers and that the perpetrators of the crime will be brought to justice.”
Apart from Shawkat, Mehlis wants to interview Major-General Bahjat Suleiman, former head of the internal security branch at the general intelligence department; Lieutenant-General Rustom Ghazali, former Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon; Lieutenant-General Thafer Youssef; Lieutenant-General Abdul-Karim Abbas; and another officer, Jamea Jamea.
Jamea was an aide of Ghazali while both Youssef and Abbas were receiving training at a military academy in Beirut at the time of the assassination. Abbas is an officer in the military security body headed by Shawkat. The Lebanese source said Youssef was believed to be a communications officer.
