Syrian official describes UN report on Hariri killing as " politically biased"

A senior Syrian official on Friday described remarks in a UN report on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri as "100 percent politically biased".

Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlullah made the denunciation in an interview with the Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV network after the UN report which implicated high-ranking Syrian officials in the Hariri assassination was released Thursday evening.

"It is a political statement against Syria based on allegations by witnesses known for their hostility to Syria," Dakhlullah told al-Jazeera.

He said that "the (UN) report is far from the truth. It was not professional and will not arrive at the truth but will be part of a deception and great tension in this region."

The UN report released Thursday evening linked Syria with the murder of Hariri and called on the Syrian authorities to cooperate with investigators.

"There is converging evidence pointing at both Lebanese and Syrian involvement in this terrorist act," said the report.

The Syrian government has vehemently denied any involvement in the murder of Hariri in a Feb.14 deadly car bomb. Hariri had called for the withdrawal of Syria's troops from Lebanon.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claimed innocence in two separate interviews with western media recently, denying Syria's involvement in the killing.

In a rare interview with CNN on Oct. 12, Assad denied allegations that he ordered such assassination, saying any Syrians concluded in the murder would be treated as traitors.

In another interview with the German Die Zeit weekly newspaper released on Oct. 19, Assad asserted that "we are 100 percent innocent".

Hariri's death led to renewed calls for the withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence agents that had been in Lebanon since the early stages of that country's 1975-1990 civil war.

Syria withdrew its troops from the neighboring Lebanon in April this year following growing international pressures.

German prosecutor Mehlis was appointed in May by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to lead an independent inquiry team to carry out intensive investigations in both Lebanon and Syria.

Last month, Mehlis named the heads of Lebanese intelligence and security agencies as suspects in the case of Hariri assassination.

Mehlis will brief the 15-nation UN Security Council on the investigation next Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua