Khaddam meets UN commission on Hariri's murder
The ex Syrian vice-president has accused Assad of being responsible for the death of the Lebanese statesman. The government of Damascus has seized the property of Khaddam's family and accused him of high treason.
Damascus (AsiaNews) The former Syrian vice-president, Abdel Halim Khaddam, has said he met members of the UN Commission of Inquiry into Rafic Hariri's assassination. The meeting took place yesterday in Paris where Khaddam has been living for some months with his wife, children and grandchildren.
For decades, Khaddam was one of the Syria's chief policy makers on Lebanon. Something over a week ago, he threw himself into a round of interviews with western and Arab media, accusing the Syrian President, Bashar Assad, of being implicated in the killing of Rafic Hariri and of having personally threatened him before his death.
On 5 January, Khaddam gave an interview to the France 3 television and once again called for the dismissal of Assad, accused of being "the only one responsible for the decline of Syria's world standing". He also said the overthrow of Bashar Assad "is a question of a short time" and he called on the international community to reinforce security measures to protect anti-Syrian Lebanese figures.
The reaction in Damascus was heavy: all the fixed and other assets of Khaddam and his family have been seized; the Justice Minister has set up a special court to judge Khaddam, charged with "offence and repudiation of the oath of loyalty to the party and homeland".
Khaddam told France 3 television that he will return to Syria after the fall of Assad.
But Khaddam's conversion has not convinced Syrian dissidents. Yasin al-Haji Saleh, a former political prisoner, suspects that the ex vice-president is in league with international powers. Others accused him of opportunism. Dissident film-maker, Omar Amirallay, said: "It's true his revelations are helping Syria because they are calling for the overthrow of the regime, but this does not absolve him of the many crimes and injustices he committed."
In the wake of Khaddam's accusations. President Assad received messages of solidarity from Libya's Gaddafi and the Iranian president Ahmadinejad.
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