"One thing I can confirm," the publication quoted Saad as saying. "In case we find them, the murderers will perhaps sit in the dock of the International Court in The Hague."

Der Spiegel said the young Hariri trusted the ability of the Berlin chief prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, chief of the U.N. mission that will begin the investigation of the Feb. 14 assassination in Beirut this week, to crack the case within the 6-month period set for the probe.

In his Koreitem remarks, Saad said enemies of Rafik Hariri's agenda to unite and strengthen Lebanon had confronted him because "they were afraid that his agenda, if enforced, would have showed how great he was and how small they were."

"Therefore, they violently and ruthlessly agitated against him. They even dared to accuse him of treason and of promoting a Zionist agenda against the Arabs," Saad told a visiting delegation of Mukhtars and dignitaries from the western Bekaa Valley. "Those who agitated for Rafik Hariri's murder are people whose days are numbered."

Saad said his father's political foes had ganged up to prevent him from touring the Bekaa and north Lebanon, fearing his charisma would turn the tables against them nationwide.

"But I am going to do what he was prevented from doing. I am going to campaign in the north and in the Bekaa in the upcoming elections and no one will dare prevent me," said Saad.

The Beirut media has been predicting a strong showing for Hariri's Tayyar Al Mustaqbal and its opposition allies in northern and eastern Lebanon after sweeping all19 seats of Beirut in the May 29 round of the elections.

Source: Naharnet