Hamade denounces Sayyed”s “theatrical” Syrian lawsuit
A majority lawmaker on Thursday denounced summoning orders issued by the Syrian judiciary asking leading Lebanese officials to testify in court over their role in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The Syrian judiciary ordered the summons against 25 local officials and figures after former General Security chief Jamil al-Sayyed filed a lawsuit in connection with his detention for four years over Hariri’s assassination.
Sayyed on Thursday defended his lawsuit, saying that that it was judicial rather than political.
Lawmakers in the parliamentary majority have said that the warrants aim to undermine Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s position ahead of his expected visit to Syria.
MP Marwan Hamade, who is among the 25 figures whose testimony is being sought by the Syrian court, demanded on Thursday that Lebanon’s justice, interior and information ministers take a position on the summoning of top officials, judges and media figures.
Hamade also called Sayyed’s lawsuit a “theatrical” gesture, saying that the suit had been filed by a “cornerstone of the rotten system.”
“I won’t be influenced by this theatrical play, since my popular immunity surpasses my parliamentary immunity,” he added.
He also demanded clarification from the government regarding its stance on the “humiliating matter.
The Lebanese judiciary’s Legislation and Consultation Committee has determined that the Syrian request, which was first made late Tuesday, was illegitimate, a judicial source told The Daily Star on Thursday.
The Justice Ministry on Thursday received a second official letter from the Syrian Embassy in Beirut, along with 25 attached summoning warrants filed by the Damascus First Prosecutor on November 23.
The summoning notices were issued by the Syrian judiciary upon Sayyed’s request against Lebanese official figures for making false testimonies against the former general. Sayyed was one of the four generals who were held in connection to the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He was released in 2009 without ever being charged with a crime.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Justice Ministry said it had received the memo through the Foreign Ministry and was evaluating the case from a legal perspective and would take the necessary executive and judicial procedures.
The Justice Ministry had asked the Legislation and Consultation committee to express its opinion on the memo’s legitimacy in order to undertake the necessary steps.
Judicial sources revealed on Thursday that the Legislation and Consultation Committee had finalized its consultations regarding the first letter, which was sent directly by the attorney general in Damascus to the deputy general prosecutor in Lebanon.
The sources added that the first memo was not legal since it was not sent in accordance with the legal procedures.
“To file a criminal lawsuit by a Lebanese against another Lebanese is not part of the Syrian judiciary’s authority in a case that allegedly took place on Lebanese territories,” the judicial source added.
The source also said the warrant did not take into consideration the political and judicial immunity of the Lebanese officials who were included in the summoning warrants, and accordingly the procedures to be followed to inform them of the lawsuit were not respected.
“The cooperation agreement between the Lebanese and Syrian judiciary also contradicted the manner that the memo was issued regardless of the official position of the individuals being summoned,” the source said.
Also on Thursday, Sayyed’s press office issued a statement questioning “the political campaign and the state of turmoil” that followed the issuance of the summons, saying the warrants should not be a source of concern to any individual who was not involved in false testimonies.
“The summoning warrants are not arrest ones so far … thus they would not turn into arrest ones unless the individuals refrain from presenting themselves before the investigative judge in Damascus,” Sayyed’s statement said.
He added that figures currently pressuring Syria to withdraw these warrants under the pretext of Hariri’s upcoming visit to Syria were making wrong calculations since the lawsuit was “judicial and not political.”
“Those involved [in the case] escalated things leading Sayyed to file his lawsuit in Syria after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the Lebanese Judiciary shut its doors,” the statement said. Sayyed added that the warrants were legal and in accordance with ratified bilateral agreements.