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Hariri Probe Arrests 'Jumblatt-Man' in Hawi Assassination |
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
The UN probe committee investigating the assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri has detained a man in Beirut's Wata al-Mosseitbeh
neighborhood on suspicion of involvement in the killing of former Lebanese
Communist Party cheif George Hawi, a report published by As-Safir newspaper said
Tuesday.
As-Safir, citing witnesses who live in the neighborhood, said UN investigators
in a large convoy visited the area on April 14 and raided the house of a man
identified as "N.G." who lives opposite Hawi's residence on Jabal al-Arab
Street.
The Communist Party's former secretary general was killed in a car bombing in
June 2005.
The report said the suspect, a member of the Progressive Socialist Party headed
by MP Walid Jumblatt, had left shortly after Hawi's murder to Dubai where he has
been working there for nearly two years. He returned to Beirut about six months
ago to work at a restaurant.
"I used to see this individual every day on the sidewalk near my parent's house;
he used to spend the night smoking sheesha near my father's car until 2:00 or
3:00 a.m.," Hawi's son, Raffi Madayan, told Al-Manar television on Tuesday.
Madayan also accused the Lebanese security services of negligence: "I'm very
concerned that there might be attempts to cover for the real killer."
In its Tuesday report, As-Safir said investigations on members of the so-called
Rafeh network - suspected of being an Israeli spying cell operating in Lebanon -
have led to new information concerning Hawi's murder.
Hawi was assassinated when a bomb planted in his car was detonated by remote
control as he traveled through Wata al-Moseitbeh. The perpetrator has yet to be
identified, but the ruling coalition in Lebanon has usually blamed Syria for
this and other explosions in the capital, after the Syrian withdrawal from
Lebanon. Syria has repeatedly denied the charges.
Source: Daily Star
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