AL rejects any sanctions on Damascus; Annan prefers trials in Beirut

The UN secretary General Kofi Annan has called on Syria to continue cooperation with the UN investigation committee in the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

In a joint press conference in Cairo with the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, Annan commended Damascus cooperation to the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1559.

But Annan called for full cooperation until the committee ends its mission according to resolution 1636. He said that the message is clear and it is that nobody is permitted to escape punishment in this case. He added that the trial of all persons involved in this operation will be enough, in the attempt which seems to ease down Arab fears of escalating international pressures on Syria over al-Hariri file.

Abu al-Gheit said that Annan prefers the trial of the accused persons to be held in Lebanon on the ground that the UN resolutions state to help the Lebanese authorities to carry out their responsibilities concerning the investigation and the trial. He added that all possibilities are still open to an international trial, according to the opinion of the chairman of the UN investigation committee Detlev Mehlis and through a Lebanese and international consensus.

Annan also met in Cairo with the AL secretary general Amr Moussa who stressed Arab states' rejection to imposing any sanctions on the Syrian people.