 A Syrian witness in a U.N. probe into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri is ready to meet rights groups to show that he was not coerced to recant his testimony, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
| "No, no! Not coerced at all! I never did have any nails on that hand! And Grampaw was very depressed. That's why he shot himself..." |
German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who led the U.N. inquiry, said in a report on Monday there was "credible information" that Syria had pressured one witness, Hosam Taher Hosam, to rescind his testimony for an earlier report in October that implicated Syrian officials in the Hariri murder. But Hosam's lawyer, Imran Zobi, said the charges were "pure fabrication".
"I assure everyone that everything in the Mehlis report about pressure applied on Hosam and the arrest of his kin is completely untrue and is a pure fabrication," Zobi said. "I invite all human rights organisations and all bodies active in this area at any time they desire to come to Syria and meet my client Hosam and all (or any) member of his family and in the fashion they deem appropriate," he told Reuters. |