Mehlis report accuses Syria of changing Hussam's testimony

Mehlis new report also complained about Syria's attempt to spread doubt on the results the report had reached. Mehlis said that the preliminary investigations indicate that the Syrian authorities effected the Syrian witness Hussam Hussam, know as the masked witness, who retracted his previous testimony following his return back to Damascus.

The copy of the report which was leaked to the press said that the UN committee into the murder of Rafiq al-Hariri received "credible information" to indicate that "before Hussam retreated from his testimony given to the UN investigation committee, Syrian officials arrested and threatened some of his relatives in Syria."

The report considered that the case of Hussam "raises serious questions on whether the Syrian judicial committee is committed to making an independent and transparent and professional investigation into this crime." Against these accusations targeting Syria, the report commended the collaboration of the Lebanese authorities with the investigations. Mehlis report considered that the time for the investigation is not enough and recommended to extend it for months at least.

According to the report, Mehlis report interrogated more than 500 witnesses and analyzed a huge amounts of materials and collected 37,000 pages of documents.

This new report comes after an earlier one in October in which he indicated the possibility that senior Syrian and Lebanese officials are likely to be involved in the assassination. It criticized what it described as Damascus lack of cooperation, and in light of that the UN security council unanimously approved resolution 1636 which calls on Damascus to cooperate with the investigation, otherwise it will face inspecified measures.