Sayyed Says Riachy Involved in His Arrest, Asks Cassese to Disqualify Him

Former head of General Security Department, Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, has filed a request with Judge Antonio Cassese, President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, asking him to disqualify STL Vice-President Judge Ralph Riachy, STL's press office announced Wednesday.

Sayyed claimed that Riachy had been directly involved in the process of his "arbitrary detention, the thing that raises questions about his integrity and impartiality."

Sayyed noted that the subject of the current case is the jurisdiction of the STL and whether he had standing to submit an application for access to certain investigation documents related to the so-called false witnesses issue.

He reiterated that false testimony was used to fabricate evidence against him during the investigation into the murder of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

Sayyed was jailed in 2005 in connection with the murder and then released for lack of evidence with three other former generals in 2009.