Hariri's son wants killers to face world court

23 Oct, 2005

The son of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri's Rafik al-Hariri called on Saturday for an international court to punish his killers as pressure mounted on Syria after a damning UN probe into the murder.
The United States is working to arrange a quick high-level UN Security Council meeting to consider a response to the investigation that implicated senior Syrian officials in the February 14 assassination.
A UN report said on Thursday the decision to kill Hariri "could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials" colluding with counterparts in Lebanon.
Hariri's son and political heir, Saad, said in a televised address to the Lebanese from his temporary residence in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that he was seeking justice, not revenge.
"We call on the international community to uphold its support for the international commission into the assassination of Mr Hariri to unearth the full truth and bring the perpetrators to justice in an international court," he said.
"We are not seeking revenge, we are seeking justice."
US President George W. Bush said on Friday the report was deeply disturbing, adding that he had asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to request that the United Nations "convene a session as quickly as possible" to discuss the report.
Rice said the council meeting would probably be at the level of foreign ministers. A council session has already been planned for Tuesday.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Security Council members would consider sanctions, but he acknowledged the West had to work to win support from other council members for its pressure against Syria.
"We can't anticipate exactly how discussion of a resolution is going to come out. But we will be working very hard with France and other key partners to secure the best possible result," he said.
Russia, which has a veto on the Council, is a traditional ally of Syria.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan extended the Mehlis investigation for three months, which suggests no strong action is expected until the probe ends on December 15.
At the United Nations, the report's credibility came into question after a final version of it omitted the names of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brother and brother-in-law from a key paragraph on who made the decision to kill Hariri.
The report said a key person in touch with all the plotters had telephoned Lebanese President Emile Lahoud minutes before the explosion. The disclosure prompted calls for Lahoud's resignation among anti-Syrian parliamentarians in Beirut.
Lahoud's office denied the president took such a call and indicated he would not be forced from office.

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