Hariri Cover-Up Claim

The pro-government newspaper Al-Watan accused America and Saudi Arabia of trying to conceal any possible role of Saudi Arabia in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. In its September 22 edition, the newspaper stated that both countries are exerting pressure on the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission not to uncover any possible role the kingdom might have had in the crime.



The newspaper quoted an unnamed high-level Lebanese official stating that a member of the international investigation committee had told him that the US and Saudi Arabia tried to mislead the investigation after it allegedly had discovered the real culprits. According to that official, an extremist group who had committed the crime was pressured into withdrawing their confessions.



Syria has been repeatedly accused of being involved in the assassination in February 2005. The local and international outcry following the killing prompted Syria to withdraw from Lebanon.



Al-Watan presents a different version of the story. Based on the alleged statements of the Lebanese official, the newspaper reported that al-Hariri was killed by a Saudi extremist group because he refused to allow extremists into Lebanon who had been ordered by a Saudi prince to assassinate Hasan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah. According to Al-Watan, the Saudi royal then worked with Israeli intelligence to assassinate al-Hariri.