Former suspect seeks to clear name

BEIRUT // History is likely to remember Gen Jamil el Sayed. But Gen Sayed is seeking to make sure it remembers him his way. Not, that is, as a key suspect in a political murder. For four years, Gen Sayed was a prime suspect in one of the most unlikely political dramas, much of it played out on Lebanon's streets. Lebanese authorities arrested him and three other Lebanese military officials as a prime suspect in the assassination of the prime minister Rafiq Hariri, with smoke still billowing from the scene of the bombing and with demonstrations in outrage at the murder overtaking the center of Beirut. Now, almost five months after the special tribunal prosecuting the assassination released him, Gen Sayed is back on the political scene in Beirut, seeking to clear his name and respond to his detractors and his jailers. "Hariri's assassination is a historic event and all involved in it, those who were influenced by it, will enter history. And I will enter history as a victim of it," he said in a rare interview on Wednesday. But the 59 year-old-general also has a warning for his detractors: "If the Lebanese and the international justice systems don't hold accountable those who perjured against me, I will seek justice by my own way". There is no way to confirm his claims, and his supporters are few. But inside his large sea-view apartment in Beirut are piles of papers he believes will help prove his innocence. Next month, Gen Sayed will file a lawsuit against "those who fabricated witnesses to put me in jail." He intends to name the Lebanese Public Prosecutor, Saeed Mirza, Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who initially led the international investigation into the assassination, and even Saad Hariri himself. That he was a suspect is understandable. Gen Sayed was a close ally to Syria during his 37 years of service in the Lebanese army and the Lebanese General Security, which specialises in immigration and citizenship matters. His ties to Syria remain strong, he said, even after his years in prison. "I'm a Syrian ally today and I will be for a hundred years," he said. He claims he went to jail for refusing to implicate the Syrian regime in Hariri's assassination. "One of [the international investigators] asked me to convey a letter to Bashar al Assad and to convince him to pick a Syrian "fat" victim and charge them with the murder, then find them killed in a car accident or with a suicide note. When I refused, he told me find a victim or you will be that victim." Gen Sayed claims that if had he accepted the deal, his testimony "would have had the same impact of Colin Powell testimony on the Iraqi WMD program of Saddam Hussein." He admits that many violations occurred during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. But he said "most of those who stole in the name of the Lebanese -Syrian relations are now known as the March 14 forces." Gen Sayed described what happened in Lebanon during the Syrian occupation as an "act of some corrupt Lebanese and Syrian individuals", blaming mostly the former Syrian vice president Abdelhalim Khaddam, "who is the symbol of the corruption in Lebanon". But he insists Syria is no longer present in Lebanon and was replaced by America as the most influential foreign power. And even though three other generals faced the same fate, Gen Sayed thinks his case is unique and he was "harassed" the most. That is why he is filing the lawsuit on his own, he said. Gen Sayed defines his political role in Lebanon as a staunch independent voice. "I'm an oppositionist but not part of the Lebanese opposition. I'm resistant but not part of Hizbollah. I'm with Syria but not with the corruption of some Lebanese and Syrians." Though Gen Sayed appears to show little of his four-year incarceration, he does not hesitate to express his bitterness at how everything turned out. He lashed out at Mr Hariri, whom he accuses of having lost all right to control the justice ministry because of the ongoing investigation of his father's murder. He blame Mr Hariri for "neglect" in wrongly imprisoning him and hold what he described as false witnesses accountable. "You are covering for the real killer," he said of Mr Hariri. "If you believe I didn't, you should watch out more, for I will never forgive those who accused me wrongly." Ultimately, Gen Sayed insists, his suit "if it's not for justice, it would be for history." Ultimately, though, history will determine if he can clear his name.

@Email:mzeidan@thenational.ae