Dubai: A former Syrian officer, accused of misleading a United Nations investigation into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, appeared in an Abu Dhabi court on Monday on trial for entering the UAE with fake documents.
Mohammad Zuhair Al Siddiq, who told the UN Commission to investigate the Hariri murder, resurfaced in the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi on Monday more than a year after he disappeared from his former residence in Paris. He is wanted in both his native Syria and Lebanon for misleading investigators and obstruction of justice.
His lawyer, Dr Fahd Al Sabhan, admitted in the court that Siddiq had actually entered the UAE "on a fake Czech passport provided by the French intelligence." Siddiq was arrested in April, according to his lawyer.
He is believed to be the key witness behind a UN report that accused Syria of involvement in the killing of Hariri on February 14, 2005. He was later discredited by the commission. Syria denies any involvement in the Hariri murder and maintained that Siddiq lied to the UN probe committee by telling them he had been witness to a conspiracy to eliminate the former Lebanese prime minister.
The assassination fuelled tensions between Lebanon and Syria, and eventually that same year prompted the withdrawal of Syrian troops after 30 years of virtual domination over Lebanon's politics.
Dr Sabhan said his client sought refuge in the UAE and was under the impression that the UAE authorities knew of his moving here. The attorney said that his client entered on another name, but he and his family entered on special visas from the Naturalisation and Residency Department.
The attorney, however, confirmed that Czech diplomats in the UAE said the passport was fake.
Justice Khalifa Al Muhairi asked Siddiq if he knew that he entered the country on fake documents.
He said he was "innocent" and the passport was original. "Most Arabs in the Czech Republic carry passports with different names.
Justice Al Muhairi postponed the hearing at the request of the defence lawyer to check whether the authorities knew about Siddiq's residence in the UAE.
Although Lebanon had sought his extradition, France denied it on the grounds that he could be subject to the death penalty. He was released in 2006 and continued to live in France until March 2008, when he came to the UAE.
