Lebanese cabinet calls for extending Mehlis's mission

The Lebanese minister of the information Ghazi al-Areidi said on Thursday that the Lebanese cabinet asked officially for extending the mission of the UN investigation committee in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri until December 15th.

The extension request came after the hint given by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on his country's readiness to cooperate with a likely international court on the assassination of Hariri when he said in an interview with the CNN "if someone ordered the killing without his knowledge, such officials will be tried on charge of capital treason."

Al-Areidi indicated that this request aims at "supporting the Lebanese judiciary and complies with grace period originally set by the UN Security Council to the committee which expires on December 15th."

The two ministers stressed that there is no relation between extension the mission of the committee and the report which the chairman of the UN investigation committee Detliv Mehlis will submit to the UN before October 25th about the results of his work.