Syria invites U.N. investigator for talks (to "coordinate" Hariri investigation probe)

ap on Yahoo ^ | 11/09/05 | Albert Aji - ap

[NormsRevenge]

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's top prosecutor has invited the chief U.N. investigator in the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister for talks on coordinating the U.N. probe with Syria's newly opened one, the official news agency reported Wednesday.

Prosecutor-General Ghada Murad, who heads the Syrian probe into Rafik Hariri's killing, has asked U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis to come to Damascus "to search for the best means and mechanisms of cooperating between the two commissions," the Syrian Arab News Agency said.

In a letter to Mehlis, Murad said her commission "highly appreciates your mission and is keen to unveil the full truth, and expresses its readiness to cooperate and coordinate fully with you," SANA reported.

The news report did not mention the U.N. commission's request to interview six Syrian government officials.

In a speech to the nation scheduled for Thursday, President Bashar Assad was expected to focus on the increasing pressure Syria is facing over the Hariri assassination.

Last week, the U.N. Security Council demanded that Syria cooperate fully with the Mehlis commission and warned the country could face further action if it failed to do so.

The Mehlis commission concluded in an interim report last month that Hariri's killing could not have been carried out without the complicity of Syrian and Lebanese intelligence. The report also accused Syria of providing only limited cooperation in the U.N. investigation.

Hariri was killed by a massive truck bomb in Beirut on Feb. 14.

Syria has rejected the report's findings, but has said it will cooperate with the U.N. commission. It also followed the report's suggestion of starting its own investigation.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Syrian leaders held discussions in Damascus on Wednesday about Syria's differences with the Security Council over the Hariri probe.

Moussa declined to comment on how Syria should respond to the U.N. commission's request to interview the six officials.

"This issue should be dealt with between Syria and Mehlis, or between the United Nations and Syria," Moussa said. "Consultations are under way now."

The pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat reported over the weekend that one of the six officials was Gen. Assef Shawkat, the president's brother-in-law and chief of Syria's military intelligence service. Officials have not confirmed the report or disclosed the identities of any of the six.

[NormsRevenge]

Ghada Murad, Syrian Prosecutor-General, who is head of the Syrian special judicial committee, at a press conference in Damascus on Monday Nov. 7, 2005. Syrian president Bashar Assad ordered the formation of the committee to investigate into the assassination of former Lebanese premier, Rafik Hariri. Murad reiterated its readiness to cooperate with the UN investigation and the Lebanese judicial authorities and Syria is considering a U.N. request to interview six top officials about the slaying of a former Lebanese leader, a Foreign Ministry official said Monday. A Lebanese official said earlier that President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law was one of the six. (AP Photo Bassem Tellawi)

[Tigen]

End of meeting press will state..(It's George Bushes fault!)