A Syrian witness in the murder case of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri has escaped from Lebanese police custody and gone to Syria where he appeared last night for 75 minutes on Syrian satellite TV, according to a report in Beirut's pro-Syrian daily As Safir Monday. During his TV appearance Hussam Taher Hussam was reported as saying that his previous testimony to the U.N.-appointed commission investigating the case "was false" because it was given under pressure. In that testimony, Hussam reportedly mentioned names like Maher Assad, brother of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Asef Shawkat, the president's brother-in-law and chief of military intelligence as well as other officers. Press speculation has listed Maher Assad and Asef Shawkat among the five Syrian officials to be interviewed by chief investigator Detlev Mehlis in Vienna probably this week. An agreement between Mehlis and Syria was successfully brokered by Saudi Arabia last week and announced over the weekend .

Hussam was reported as saying that during his time in Lebanese police custody, he was "exposed to various pressures and intimidation by political, security and information parties close to MP Saad Hariri," son of slain Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. As Safir said some of Hussam's testimony was included in Mehlis' last report as a result of an encounter between him and Gen. Jamil Sayyed, the former director of public security in Lebanon. The paper did not say how or when Hussam escaped.

As Safir and other newspapers reported Monday that Mehlis had spent time on Sunday discussing a mechanism for investigating the five Syrian officials in Vienna with Syrian foreign ministry legal counsel Riad Daoudi. The meeting took place at Mehlis' Monteverde HQ in Lebanon.

In the meantime, Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the secretary of Saudi National Security Council, was visiting Damascus yesterday for the third time in ten days. He delivered a message to President Assad from King Abdullah reportedly related to the investigations, which are due to begin this week. Bandar said after meeting Assad that he had expressed King Abdullah's appreciation and admiration for the Syrian leader's wise and brave decision to agree on Vienna as the venue for the investigation. The Syrian agreement came after receiving guarantees from an undisclosed permanent Security Council member. The guarantees include a pledge that the five would be allowed to return to Damascus after the interrogation is over.

Not one of the Syrian officials is top brass or a cabinet minister, the Beirut press reported. "For now, they don't include any serving or former head of any generic intelligence apparatus, but they include Rustom Ghazali, the former chief of military intelligence in Lebanon, which is part of the military intelligence service," sources said.

One of the sources said that four of the five due to be interviewed are Lt. Gen. Ghazali; Lt Gen. Thafer Youssef; Lt. Gen. Abdul-Karim Abbas; and Ghazali's aide, Jamea Jamea. The four officials were identified by Lebanese sources earlier in November.

A Syrian official declined to disclose the names but said the U.N. team heard testimony from four people in Syria in September and wants to question a fifth person who is not a military official. In an interim report last month, Mehlis said he had evidence of Syrian and Lebanese officials' involvement in Hariri's murder. Syria denies any role in the killing of its former ally. Lebanon has already charged four pro-Syrian security generals in connection with the assassination on Mehlis' recommendation.

In its report today on the investigation, An Nahar said the Lebanese cabinet is inclined to ask the United Nations this week to prepare for the creation of an international tribunal to proceed with the Hariri murder case. It said the proposed tribunal may be Lebanese sitting outside Lebanon, or international-Lebanese also sitting abroad. The international Arabic daily Al Hayat Sunday said the proposed international tribunal might be based in Moscow and expected members of the Security Council and Arab countries to agree on that.

Source: Middel East Reporter