Sayyed accuses PSP of pressuring judiciary

Source: Daily Star, 25-04-2008
BEIRUT: Detained former head of General Security Jamil al-Sayyed urged the Lebanese judiciary on Thursday "not to be misled by statements issued by the Progressive Socialist Party [PSP], which seem to have taken sudden interest in preserving and protecting the judiciary." Sayyed, in addition to former Presidential Guard commander Mustafa Hamdan, ex-Internal Security Forces boss Ali al-Hajj and former army intelligence head General Raymond Azar, have been detained for more than two years on suspicion of involvement in the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. In a statement issued by his media office, Sayyed said the PSP, led by Chouf Mp Walid Jumblatt, "were suffering a bitter defeat after the witness they fabricated [the story about] Mohammed Zuheir al-Siddiq having gone missing." On Wednesday, The PSP issued a statement describing Sayyed as the "head of the Roumieh prison gang," and accusing him of stirring tensions against the Lebanese judiciary." "Sayyed's abundant statements carried by the media only work as a means of spreading hatred among the Lebanese judiciary," the PSP statement said. "The PSP statement is to be seen as an attempt to exert pressures on the judiciary to prolong our arbitrary detainment," Sayyed said. "The best way possible for the PSP to preserve the judiciary is by putting an end to the political pressures they exert on State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, and Investigating Magistrate Saqr Saqr."