3 Suspects in Hariri Assassination Case Released, 4 to go...

Only four days ahead of the launching of the international tribunal over the assassination of fomer Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, three of the seven suspects detained in the case were released on Wednesday.

Indeed, the examining magistrate Saqr Saqr approved on Wednesday the release of brothers Ahmad and Mahmoud Abdul Aal as well as Ibrahim Jarjoura, who were arrested for suspected involvement in Hariri's murder.

The brothers Abdul Aal were released on bail of LP500,000 each, while Jarjoura was released on bail of LP100,000. Ahmad Adul Aal was arrested on October 28, 2005, while his brother, Mahmoud, was arrested on November 13, 2006.

Meanwhile, the examining magistrate rejected a demand to release the four generals who became the only remaining detainees over the case by the Lebanese judicial authorities.

The four detained security officials are: Jamil Sayyed of the General Security, Mustafa Hamdan of the Presidential Guard Brigade, Raymond Azar of the army's Intelligence Service and Ali Hajj of the Internal Security Forces. They have been arbitrarily detained without charges since 2005, based on the false testimony of the so-called "king witness" Mohamed Zuhair Siddiq.