Mehlis flays Damascus for using witness as propaganda tool

Beirut: Chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis accused Damascus of using a Syrian witness in the inquiry into the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister as a Communist-like propaganda tool.

German prosecutor Mehlis, quoted by a number of Lebanese and Arabs newspapers yesterday, said his investigation had not been undermined by witness Hosam Taher Hosam, who recanted his testimony.

Hosam appeared on Syrian television this week to accuse Lebanese officials of an elaborate scheme of threats, bribery and torture to induce him to testify falsely against Syria and said the inquiry's initial findings rested largely on his lies.

"I'm used to this kind of propaganda," Mehlis was quoted by Beirut's As Safir daily as saying. "I've spent 40 years in Germany and we used to see such things in former eastern European countries."

Mehlis' interim report in October into the February 14 killing of Rafik Hariri cast suspicion on senior Syrian officials and suggested the assassination was planned by top security officials in Damascus and their Lebanese allies.