Saad al-Hariri wants killers of his father tried

The chairman of the majority block in the Lebanese parliament Saad al-Hariri said on Thursday that he will not oppose the imposition of sanctions against officials accused in the assassination crime of his father, the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

Hariri called for bringing the persons responsible for the killing of his father to an international court, noting that talking about imposing sanctions against Syria over the background of the assassination incident is "premature."

In the same context, the second Lebanese investigation judge Mikhael Eid issued a warrant of arrest against the official in al-Ahbash group Mahmoud Abdul Al after his name was mentioned in the UN report on the assassination of Hariri. This, however, increased the persons put in custody to 11.

The UN report into the assassination of Hariri noted that Mahmoud telephoned from his mobile phone the Lebanese Persident minutes before the explosion, and that after the explosions by minutes he also telephoned the commander of the Lebanese army intelligence Maj. Gen. Rimond Azar who is also held in custody.

Mahmoud is the brother of Ahmad Abdul Al, who was originally detained over the issue of the weapons warehouse which was found in one of Beirut's quarters.