BEIRUT, Lebanon - A key Lebanese suspect arrested in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was taken to hospital on Saturday after suffering high blood pressure, police said.

Maj. General Jamil al-Sayyed, former chief of the powerful General Security Directorate, was taken to the American University's hospital in Beirut where he remained in a stable condition, they said in a statement.

Lebanon has charged Sayyed, along with three top pro-Syrian security chiefs, with murder and attempted murder in connection with the Feb. 14, 2005 killing of Hariri and 22 others in a truck bomb near Beirut's seafront. The four have denied any role.

An ongoing U.N. inquiry said in December it was investigating claims that Sayyed had operated an illegal fund out of his office "which possibly had been used to finance the assassination of Mr. Hariri."

The investigation has also implicated senior Syrian officials. Damascus has repeatedly rejected the charge. (Reuters)