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Ex-Lebanese general rejects state summons

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEPTEMBER 18, 2010 20:43

BEIRUT— A former Lebanese army general who called Prime Minister Saad Hariri a liar and urged people to topple his government said Saturday he will not respond to a state summons for questioning.

Former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil al-Sayyed was among four pro-Syrian officers jailed without charge for nearly four years in the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, Rafik. They were freed last year for lack of evidence.

Al-Sayyed said he would place himself at the disposal of the Lebanese judiciary but only after the removal of state prosecutor Said Mirza, who issued the summons.

Al-Sayyed is suing Mirza in a Syrian court and at the U.N.-appointed international tribunal investigating Hariri's killing, for allegedly misleading the investigation.

The ex-general spoke Saturday upon arrival at Beirut airport.

Mirza issued the summons Monday, a day after al-Sayyed held a press conference in which he accused Hariri of selling his father's blood to frame Syria for his father's death — a killing that set off a wave of turmoil that led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops after nearly 30 years.

Al-Sayyed also said Hariri supported "false witnesses" who misled the investigation into his father's assassination.

Al-Sayyed was not taken in for questioning at the airport. It was not immediately clear what measures Lebanese authorities would take if the former general fails to respond to the state summons.

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