Trial of Syrian Officer Accused of Attempting to Plant Bomb on Eve of Hariri”s Murder Anniversary Postponed
The military court has postponed the trial of Syrian army Col. Firas Ghannam and Munir Hilal, a Tunisian. Both men are accused of attempting to plant explosives in Martyr”s Square on the eve of the first anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
The postponement of the hearing session — which was devoted to listening to the testimony of one of the witnesses and coming out with a ruling — was made due to the absence of Hilal”s attorney.
The Syrian officer objected, given that he had been detained for more than three and a half years.
Ghannam had revealed during preliminary interrogation that Syrian army intelligence officer Col. George Salloum had asked him to plant the explosives in Martyr”s Square on the eve of the first anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri Feb. 14, 2006.
Ghannam said he did not plan to carry out the mission that was assigned to him, adding that he pretended to accept the task in order to be able to lease Syrian territory.
He said he had planned to travel to Iraq for "jihad", or holy war, via Lebanon.
Hilal, in turn, had denied he had carried out or attempted to carry out any terrorist operation.