BEIRUT - Chief UN investigator Daniel Bellemare has prepared an official request for the transfer to the Netherlands of the four former Lebanese generals accused of involvement in the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, Ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Monday. The daily said Bellemare's request seeks to secure a charter aircraft to transfer the detainees between December 5 and December 20 under the protection of both the Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the Lebanese Armed Forces.

According to the Ad-Diyar report, Bellemare is to present his request to Sate Prosecutor Saeed Mirza. This request is to be later reviewed by Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar and the Lebanese Cabinet.

The paper said the process was "already under way," adding that a special Lebanese Army unit assigned to protect the international investigation commission has also received instructions to prepare for securing the transfer of three containers of documents to the international tribunal's headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.

"Bellemare wants the timing of the transfer to be secure and confidential, allowing Lebanese security forces to transfer the detainees from Roumieh prison to the aircraft," Ad-Diyar's front-page report said.

The four former security chiefs include Jamil al-Sayyed of General Security, Ali al-Hajj of the ISF, Raymond Azar of army intelligence and Mustafa Hamdan of the Presidential Guard.

Hajj's wife on Monday denied any knowledge of the details reported by Ad-Diyar.

"I hope that Judge Mirza will inform the defense attorneys of the four arrested generals of this step when it happens if the Ad-Diyar story is true," Samar Hajj told New TV. "And I don't think this will happen."

Former UN lead investigator Serge Brammertz, and the current probe chief Bellemare had said in their reports that the continued detention of the four former security was in the hands of the Lebanese judiciary.

The spokesperson for the investigative commission, Radhya Ashouri, told The Daily Star in a phone interview in September that "the tribunal will not disclose the name of any suspects during the course of its work as stated by Bellemare in his first report to the UN Security Council last April." - The Daily Star