Two Syrian officials interrogated in Vienna

Al-Jazeera satellite TV in Vienna said that investigations were completed with two of the Syrian officials in the case of the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafi al-Hariri. They are the former chief of the Syrian intelligence in Lebanon Roustom Ghazaleh and his assistant Jame Jame.

Other three Syrian officials are expected to be interrogated today.

Similar news said that Lt. Gen. Asef Shawkat, brother in law of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is not among the officials who will be interrogated, and that the five men are Roustom Ghazaleh, his assistant Jame, the two army Gen. Zafer Youssef and Abdul Katim Abbas and another civilian official who was not identified.

The Lebanese daily al-Nahar said on Monday that the officials are Roustom Ghazaleh and Jame Jame, Maj. Gen, Muhammad Khallouf and col Abdul Karim Abbas and col. Samih al-Qashaami.

Diplomatic sources in Vienna said that the interrogation sessions are not presided over by Detlev Mehlis, the chairman of the UN committee on the probe of the Hariri assassination.

The Syrian officials are accompanied by their lawyers according to the understanding between Damascus and the chairman of the committee Mehlis. The Syrian government persisted not to disclose the names of those officials, stressing only that they are not among senior officials.

Western officials indicate that Syria, who rejects links to the assassination, agreed to interrogate its officers in Vienna after it was given guarantees from Russia, the permanent member at the UN Security Council, that they will not be detained.