BEIRUT: Late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was aware that Hezbollah had plotted to kill him “many” times, his friend and political ally MP Fouad Siniora told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Tuesday.
Hariri and Siniora were in a car alone together sometime at the end of 2003 or the beginning of 2004 when the Future Movement founder made the startling revelation, the former prime minister said.
“‘Suddenly he turned ... toward me and said, ‘You know Fouad, we have by now discovered many assassination attempts by Hezbollah targeting me.’ This was extremely sudden and astonishing for me, and that was followed by a heavy silence,” Siniora told the court.
While five Hezbollah members have been charged in absentia with plotting Hariri’s assassination and the ensuing cover-up, no other witnesses have claimed that Hariri felt threatened by the party.
Siniora said he did not press Hariri on the issue and never discussed the matter with him again.
When asked by Peter Haynes, who represents the victims of the attack that killed Hariri and 21 others, about when exactly the conversation occurred, Siniora grew agitated.
“I mentioned everything that I know, that I remember with regard to this question. I have absolutely nothing to add ... I related it to you exactly as I heard it,” he said.
When contacted by The Daily Star, a senior March 8 source refused to comment on Siniora’s claims.
After the prosecution completed questioning Siniora, the defense began what is expected to be a lengthy cross-examination.
Philippe Larochelle, who represents the interests of Hezbollah member Hussein Hassan Oneissi, questioned Siniora on a wide array of topics ranging from opposition to Hariri’s development projects in Beirut to the former prime minister’s adversarial relationship with then President Emile Lahoud.Despite well documented disputes, Lahoud did not figure among Hariri’s enemies, Siniora said. Previously, members of the defense suggested that Lahoud and his “clique” in the Lebanese-Syrian security apparatus may have felt threatened by Hariri’s anticipated success in the forthcoming elections.
“Do you think Mr. Lahoud may have wanted to kill Mr. Hariri?” Larochelle asked Siniora flatly.
“I cannot answer this question,” Siniora retorted. “Neither can I know nor do I want to know.”
Larochelle questioned Siniora extensively about the creation of the tribunal itself. The principle of trying those responsible for Hariri’s assassination in an international court was agreed upon while Siniora was premier in 2006.
Siniora told the court that he fought for the creation of a neutral, independent tribunal. A number of politicians, he said, had begun discussing the possibility of seeking justice in an international arena within hours after Hariri’s killing. Their call was echoed, according to Siniora, by the 1 million citizens who protested the Syrian presence in Lebanon on March 14, 2005.
Larochelle, however, suggested that the creation of the tribunal served Siniora’s own “political purposes,” and that he had worked closely with foreign allies, including the Americans, to ensure that it was established.
Siniora vehemently rejected these allegations.
“We wanted to establish this tribunal in order to strengthen and foster the democratic system and freedoms in Lebanon,” he said.
He also denied that the U.N. probe into Hariri’s killing which resulted in the imprisonment of four Lebanese generals had been legally compromised or tainted by politics. The generals were arrested amid a fierce campaign by March 14 coalition officials who accused them of involvement in the killing. After four years in prison the generals were released for lack of evidence.
The decision to arrest the generals, Siniora testified, was not made by him but rather “by the qualified legal entity.”
Siniora did, however, admit that he gave U.N. investigators access to Lebanese telecommunications records without judicial authorization. No judicial authorization was required by law, he said.
The former prime minister rebuffed Larochelle’s claims that “thousands of people” were displaced from Downtown Beirut by a redevelopment project spearheaded by Hariri. “The majority of people who were present in that area were squatters ... outlaws,” Siniora said. “It was not an illegal expropriation.”
The massive construction project, he testified, was greenlighted by the Syrian government.
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