Detlev Mehlis, the head of the international team investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, "has promised Syria to refute the media's allegations," against Damascus, said Syria's Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa yesterday.Sharaa, who was speaking at the funeral of Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan in El-Bhamra, said Damascus "expects Mehlis to deny... the false information spread by a Lebanese media outlet [New TV]," about what took place in Mehlis' meetings with the Syrian officials last month. "The wrongful accusations of some media outlets and what was leaked from the investigation team about things that never happened contributed to killing Kanaan," he said.
Mehlis had questioned several Syrian officials "as witnesses" in the Hariri investigation this September, including Kenaan, who was the chief of Syria's intelligence in Lebanon between 1982 and 2002. Kenaan, who was constantly accused in the Lebanese media of being linked to Hariri's assassination, was found dead in his office on Wednesday. Syrian investigators confirmed yesterday he had committed suicide, nine days before Mehlis is due to present his final report on the investigations.
Sharaa added: "We are still waiting for Mehlis' reply to these allegations [against Syrian officials]." However, Syrian opposition figure Aktham Naise said in Geneva: "Even if Kenaan was not implicated in the murder of Hariri... I am convinced others will be implicated in the Mehlis report and they should be punished for their crimes."