The brother of a Syrian witness in the inquiry into former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri's assassination accused France of involvement in his murder in comments published on Wednesday.
"The French authorities helped facilitate the disappearance of Mohammed Zuheir al-Saddiq with the aim of his being liquidated by another party or they liquidated him themselves," Imad al-Sadiq charged in a Syrian newspaper interview.
"My brother was under the protection of French authorities," he told the Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the Syrian government. Saddiq, who lives in Damascus, accused "Lebanese parties", including Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, of having plotted "with the French to kill (my) brother".
"The assassins want the finger of blame to be pointed at Syria, on the basis that it was the only party to benefit from his disappearance." Hezbollah also accused France of involvement in Saddiq's disappearance. "Is France in possession of information capable of swaying the investigation and hiding it?," Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said in a statement sent to AFP.
He added that the affair "raised many questions about France". French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Tuesday that the witness, a former intelligence officer, had disappeared from his suburban home in the French capital.