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France Accused in Siddiq Disappearance |
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Saturday, 26 April 2008 |
The brother of a Syrian witness in the probe on former Lebanese premier Rafik
Hariri's murder accused France of involvement in killing the man, in a Syrian
newspaper interview published on Wednesday.
"The French authorities helped facilitate the disappearance of Mohammed Zuhair
al-Siddiq with the aim of his being liquidated by another party or they
liquidated him themselves," charged Imad al-Siddiq.
"My brother was under the protection of French authorities," he told Al-Watan
newspaper, which is close to the Syrian government.
Siddiq, who lives in Damascus, accused "Lebanese parties," including
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, of having plotted "with the French
to kill (my) brother."
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.
"But I do not know under what conditions and if there was a police presence to
watch him," he said.
Siddiq, who was under an international arrest warrant requested by a Lebanese
prosecutor, was detained in October 2005 in a Paris suburb in connection with
the February 2005 assassination of Hariri.
France refused to extradite him to Lebanon because it had not been given
guarantees that he would not be liable to the death penalty here if convicted of
a crime.
Zuheir al-Siddiq's family unfurled a banner reading, "What have you done with my
father?" in front of the French embassy in Paris after two weeks since the
family submitted a request to the embassy, demanding answers about al-Siddiq's
fate.
Imad al-Siddiq, Zuheir al-Siddiq's brother, said to the journalists, "Three
times I have gone to the French embassy in Damascus but I don't receive any
answer about his fate".
He added that the French consul also expressed wonder at the French government's
refusal to provide an answer.
"France keeps silence on the case", Imad al-Siddiq said.
"He was under French control and surveillance up to the last moment. He has not
escaped from France but he is disappeared by force", Imad said.
He added that if France continues to keep silence on Zuheir al-Siddiq's fate,
his family will write a letter to the United Nations Security Council.
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