U.N. investigator Serge Brammertz is expected to head to France in the near future to question a Syrian national suspected of involvement in former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, Al Liwa reported on Monday. The announcement of Brammertz's trip to France comes amid conflicting press reports over a possible release of Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, the witness-turned-suspect in the massive bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others in central Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005.

While the Associated Press reported that Siddiq was set free, An Nahar and other news organizations said he was still held in detention.

Brammertz, who will be accompanied by other members of the international commission investigating the assassination, is also planning to meet with a French judge who had interrogated Siddiq, according to the Beirut-based daily.

On Friday, France decided to release Siddiq almost five months after French authorities detained him for lying to the U.N. probe. Siddiq had previously told U.N. investigators that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials were implicated in Hariri's assassination. He later claimed he was forced to give such a testimony.

The French authorities detained Siddiq near Paris on Oct. 16, 2005 when the U.N. commission recommended his arrest on grounds of giving false evidence to investigators.

Lebanese prosecutors have charged him in absentia with giving false testimony to mislead U.N. investigators and playing an indirect role in Hariri's killing.

In December, France refused to hand over Siddiq to Lebanon fearing he could face the death penalty for his alleged involvement in the murder.

French authorities replied to a Lebanese request to extradite the witness-turned-suspect, saying it could not hand over someone who could be sentenced to death.

Prosecutor General Said Mirza had formally made the request to French authorities, who said Lebanon failed to provide guarantees that it would not execute the Syrian suspect if he was found guilty.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese judiciary source told Agence France Presse that French judicial authorities have not informed Lebanon's prosecutor general of its decision to free Siddiq.

"Prosecutor General Said Mirza has not been officially informed by the French judiciary of its decision to free Siddiq," the source said.

An Nahar reported that Lebanon is considering asking France to provide protection to Siddiq and bar him from leaving the country until additional procedures by the United Nations are taken to set up an international tribunal to try the suspected killers of Hariri.

Last month, a U.N. legal counsel, Nicolas Michel, visited Lebanon to study the nature and scope of such a tribunal. (Naharnet)