Lebanon detains Syrian suspect in killing of lawmaker Tueni

[Behind the Aegis]

Lebanon has detained a Syrian suspect in the killing of anti-Syrian lawmaker and newspaper magnate Gebran Tueni, judicial sources said on Tuesday.

Military magistrate Rasheed Mizher ordered the arrest of Abdel-Qadir Abdel-Qadir, a scrap dealer, after questioning him and two other Syrians who have since been released, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The December 12 car bomb killing of Tueni was the third political murder in Lebanon since the February 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri plunged the country into months of turmoil.

Abdel-Qadir was present near the site of Tueni's killing in a Christian suburb of Beirut and made mobile phone calls before and after the explosion, which also killed Tueni's driver and bodyguard, the sources added without elaborating.

more...

[allemand]

1. BBC: 'Syrian held' over Beirut bombing

Lebanon has arrested a suspect in the killing of anti-Syrian newspaper owner Gibran Tueni, judicial sources said.

Syrian-born Abdul Qadir Abdul Qadir is being questioned about phone calls made immediately before and after the bombing that killed Mr Tueni.

He reportedly rents a plot of land near the scene of the killing, which took place in east Beirut on 12 December.

He was the third anti-Syrian figure to be killed since the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri in February.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4562410.stm

This is going to get interesting.

[allemand]

2. Obviously, the Syrians never read the Mehlis report.

They still use mobile phones to coordinate their attacks.

More details on the Abdel Kader:

Abdel Kader Abdel Kader, 30, was arrested after he was questioned by military investigating magistrate Rashid Mezher over the December 12 Beirut car bombing that killed Tueni, the source said Tuesday.

Abdel Kader, who sold scrap metal from a patch of land he rented near the scene of the killing in east Beirut, was under suspicion because of phone calls he made immediately before and after the bombing, the source said.
http://www.afp.com/russian/news/stories/051227144428.qf2r6b4g.html

[allemand]

3. More insanity: Tueni killers warn UN investigator against blaming Syria

Lebanese arrest Syrian in Tueni murder

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, December 28, 2005

(...)

Meanwhile, the group that claimed responsibility for Tueni's assassination issued a statement warning Serge Brammertz, the new UN chief investigator into the Hariri assassination, against blaming Syria for the killing.

The group, which calls itself the "Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant," sent a statement to pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Monday, in which it did not refer to Brammertz by name, but called on him to declare Syria's innocence.

The statement also accused Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who formerly headed the UN investigation, of "falsely" accusing Syria of being behind Hariri's assassination. (...)

Referring to Mehlis as "the filthy infidel," the statement said the German prosecutor had resigned his post "because he understood the message and realized that he would suffer a fate similar to all the traitors who stabbed the Arabs and Islam in the back."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=21077

In other words: don't blame Syria or else we will kill you like we killed Tueni (and probably Hariri, too). This is so incredibly stupid, it almost defies belief.

Another interesting question :"Abdel-Qader is also suspected of having been the roommate of another Syrian believed to have been monitoring Tueni for at least a month before his murder." Tueni was killed only a day after he returned from his exile in Paris, so how is this possible?

[bemildred]

4. It does defy belief, there is no "almost" about it. nt