BEIRUT: US diplomatic cables unveiled by WikiLeaks have exposed backstage manoeuvres surrounding a UN investigation into the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, stoking new controversy around the probe.
The cables, which are among some 4,000 secret documents on Lebanon expected to be released by the whistleblower website or its affiliates, reveal UN frustrations with both Syria and France over their level of cooperation with the probe.
They also detail repeated appeals from investigators for US assistance and show their deep concern over the detention without charge for four years of four high-ranking Lebanese security officials in connection with Hariri’s 2005 assassination.
The new WikiLeaks revelations come as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), tasked with investigating the massive Beirut bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others, is reportedly poised to indict members of Hezbollah in connection with the murder.
The powerful Shiite militant group, which fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel, has warned any such accusation would have grave repercussions in Lebanon.
According to a series of cables obtained by WikiLeaks and published by Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar on its website, STL prosecutor Daniel Bellemare last year complained to then US ambassador Michele Sison that Syria, initially accused of Hariri’s murder, was treating his investigators as “school kids in short pants.”
“They provide us with 40,000 pages in Arabic. After we translate them and find nothing of interest, they feign surprise and hand us another 40,000 pages,” read a cable dated January 27, 2009.
