DAMASCUS: If a Lebanese politician fails to appear before a Syrian military court over allegations that he urged the United States to invade Syria, he may be tried in absentia, a Syrian lawyer predicted. Lebanon's Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza has received the court summons for Walid Jumblatt, a Druse member of parliament, and two other men, but has yet to formally notify them, a procedure that can weeks or months. The United States Friday condemned the issuing of the summons. "These actions are cynical attempts by the Syrian government to continue its interference in the Lebanese political process," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "These actions must come to an end now."
Syrian attorney Hossam Al-Deen Habash, who launched the lawsuit against Jumblatt, said that once the three have been formally notified of the summons, they have a week to appear before the Syrian court. Otherwise, they face "arrest warrants and trials in absentia." "If Jumblatt fails to appear before the court, he will be tried in absentia," Habash said. "I personally filed the lawsuit against Jumblatt because he incited a foreign country (US) to occupy my country," Habash told The Associated Press in Damascus. In an interview with the Washington Post newspaper in January, Jumblatt responded to a question about what he wanted from the United States, saying, "You came to Iraq in the name of the majority. You can do the same thing in Syria."
Habash described Jumblatt's comment as a "a criminal provocation." "These provocation and incitement calls are punishable under (Syrian) law even though the (called for) action was not carried out," Habash said. The Syrian military court has also summoned for questioning Jumblatt's top aide, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, and anti-Syrian journalist Fares Kashan for allegedly "defaming" Syria by holding it responsible for last year's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and a string of bombings that targeted anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon. Under binding judicial agreements signed by Syria and Lebanon, Habash said, Lebanese judicial authorities have to hand Jumblatt over to Syria.
| "Hot potato! Catch!" |
| "I scoff at your summons and your mustache!" |
| Yeah, right |