Harb Assassination Attempt Suspect Refuses to Appear at Investigation because he is a Hizbullah Official
Mahmoud Hayek, the suspect in the assassination attempt against MP Butros Hard, refused to appear before the investigative bodies because he is a member of Hizbullah’s security apparatus, according to the lawmaker and some security sources Saturday.
Harb said that a car plate number was found inside the bag carried by the suspect when he tried to booby trap the top of the building elevator of his office in the Sami Solh region. The plate turned out to belong to a Hizbullah member who was called in for questioning, but refused, the An Nahar daily said.
Harb considered the telecom data issue as the missing link in the investigation, noting that ministers of Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement refused to hand in the data needed for the completion of investigation.
The cabinet had decided in its meeting earlier this month to provide the security apparatus with the telecom data and limit the international mobile subscriber identity IA.
According to LBC television Friday, the security apparatus summoned M.H., from the southern town of Adchit, for questioning on the backdrop of Harb’s assassination attempt in a bid to compare his fingerprints and DNA to the ones found at the crime scene.
However, it was learned that M.H. is a prominent Hizbullah official, and that he was not at his home when security members arrived to notify him. His wife said that any request related to her husband must pass through the Hizbullah security committee, LBC added.
A senior security source told An Nahar that such behavior explains the insistence of Hizbullah and its allies not to hand in the full telecom data to the security sources.
The source added on condition of anonymity: “The investigations will not back down; there is a strict decision not to retreat or leave Lebanon a prey for tactics that aim to shake its stability.”
For its part the al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday quoted a security source who confirmed that the suspect is a Hizbullah official called Mahmoud Hayek.
Harb escaped an assassination attempt early July, when three people tried to plant a booby trap inside the elevator of the building where his office is located in Sami Solh.
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