Hariri Says al-Hasan Killers Will be Brought to Justice Sooner or Later

Former Premier Saad Hariri on Friday compared “the wound” caused by the 2012 assassination of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan to the wound caused by the assassination of his father, ex-prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

“We have always called for justice and for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon regarding the assassination of Premier Rafik Hariri, and now we have the same demands regarding the assassination of Brigadier General al-Hasan,” the slain commander of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau.

“We have full confidence in the Tribunal, and no one should think that those who assassinated him will get away with it no matter what,” Hariri stressed during a prerecorded interview on Future TV which commemorated the first anniversary of al-Hasan's assassination.

“For me, the assassination of Wissam trespassed many red lines, and he was targeted because of his belief in the path of Rafik Hariri and because of his success and great achievements at the head of the Intelligence Bureau, whether in uncovering the Mamlouk-Samaha network or in pursuing and arresting several Israeli and terrorist networks,” the ex-PM noted.

He added: “We know who their friends are, and who killed him, and they will be punished sooner or later although they feel very strong today.”

Hariri pointed out that the slain officer faced “the most heinous political and media campaigns” prior to his assassination, noting that the Intelligence Bureau “is still being targeted, but it will go on and continue the institutional work he established in it.”

“They fought him because he was working to build the state,” said Hariri.

The former premier said at the end of the interview that he would soon return to Lebanon. He said that the assassination of al-Hasan “showed once again that the criminals are targeting symbols in Lebanon” and therefore his return was postponed.

But he added: “Many don’t want me to return, but I will, and I hope that Lebanon will again be as it was, and as Rafik Hariri, Wissam al-Hasan, Pierre Amin Gemayel and all the martyrs of the Cedar Revolution wanted it to be.”