LEBANON: LAWYERS FOR FOUR DETAINED GENERALS SEEK

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 000267 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/YERGER DEPT FOR NEA AND DRL DEPT PASS TO EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2018 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL PTER LE SY SUBJECT: LEBANON: LAWYERS FOR FOUR DETAINED GENERALS SEEK USG SUPPORT REF: NEA/ELA O-I OF 2/7/2008 Classified By: DCM William Grant for reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C ) DCM met on February 15 with two lawyers representing Jamil Sayed, the former head of Lebanon's General Security, who has been in detention for nearly three years after being arrested on suspicion of involvement in the car bomb assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri in February, 2005. Three other former generals of Lebanese security services also have been in detention for the same period and on the same charges. Lawyers representing the four recently requested meetings with the embassies of the five permanent members of the Security Council. DCM confirmed that the other four embassies had met with the lawyers, and obtained Washington approval (ref),before agreeing to the meeting. ¶2. (C) The two lawyers, Akram Azouri and Malek Sayed, who is Jamil Sayed's son, noted that a working group of the UN HUMAN Rights Commission had issued a November 2007 report saying that the detention of the four officials was unjust. They claimed that UN Office of Legal Affairs chief Nicola Michel had comdemned the continued detention. Further, they said that the UN International Indepedent Investigative Commission (UNIIIC) investigating the Hariri and other assassainations in Lebanon had asserted that while it had arrested the four, it no longer had responsibility for their case, which rested solely with the Lebanese government. ¶3. (C) The two lawyers argued that Lebanese authorities will not release the four, or make progress on a trial, because of politics. They noted statements of the ruling March 14 coalition such as that of Walid Jumblatt who said publicly that it would be a victory for Syria over the March 14 forces if the four generals were released. The lawyers claimed that a GOL source had told them off the record that the four never would be released unless UNIIIC authorized it. Citing the change of the investigative judge in September, the two lawyers said that the government did this to delay the trial, since the new judge needed time to become familiar with the case file. They claimed that the judge is getting his guidance from GOL General Prosecutor Mirza, who bases his decision on political grounds. ¶4. (C) The two lawyers asked that the USG take the following specific actions with regard to the four generals' case: -- cite the case again in the upcoming annual U.S. HUMAN Rights Report (the current draft does); -- support discussion of the working group report during the General Assembly of the UN Commission on HUMAN Rights; -- pressure contacts in the March 14 government coalition to release the four or assure faster trial; and -- urge that the case be covered in the next UNIIIC report, due in March. ¶5. (C) Comment. We support the USG citing the cases of the four generals in the HUMAN RIGHTS Report, as has occurred before, and supporting discussion of their case in the next UNIIIC report and at the UN Commission on HUMAN Rights. We will continue our practice of occasionally asking GOL authorities about progress on the cases. End Comment. SISON