Central witness in UN-Hariri report is a convicted fraudster according to

[allemand]

a German news report by DER SPIEGEL. He was convicted several times for embezzlement and fraud (yes, exactly like Chalabi).

Zuheir Mohammed al-Siddiq received a large sum of money for his testimony from an unknown third party. Reportedly he called his brothers from Paris saying "now I'm a millionaire".

Contact between him and the Mehlis commission was made through Syrian dissidents.

He is the one who implicated Bashar al-Asad's brother and brother-in-law in the killing.

This looks all so familiar.

Link to the German report:
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,381056,00.html
I couldn't find any translation yet.

This is a Babelfish translation:

A central witness in Mehlis report is condemned cheat

At the reliability of a central witness, by whom the UN Sonderermittler Detlev Mehlis supports its report in the murder case Hariri, doubts exist. Because Suheir al-Sadik is a several times condemned cheat.

Hamburg - which is alleged secret service man al-Sadik, 42, on whose statements substantial parts of the determinations decrease/go back, in the past among other things because of defraudation of funds and fraud condemned. Also in the UN commission, which examined the murder at the Lebanese ex prime minister Rafik al-Hariri and submitted on Thursday their report, exist doubts about the reliability of the Syrian witness.

Sadik lied demonstrably, is called it in UN circles. Thus it maintained only Beirut one month before the act to have left. At the end of September has it then granted in the execution of the assassination attempt to have been involved. Sadik for its statement of third side kept money obvious. According to data of its brothers Sadik announced itself in the late summer from Paris and said: "I am now millionaire."

Skepticism is fed also thereby that the contact was manufactured to Mehlis over the Syrian Dissidenten Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of the president Baschir alu-Assad, which fights the regime in Damascus. Sadik wants to have made its dwelling available in the Beiruter suburb Chalda for several preparation meetings, in which Syrian secret service officers would have participated. Sadik wants to have collected for the Syrian intelligence service information in Lebanese Palestinian camps.

The Syrian government already made different western governments available weeks ago a dossier with loading documents over Sadik. Thus it is to be proven that Mehlis a notorious swindler mounted.

[dutchdemocrat]

1. Excellent find

I knew there were real problems in this. Kudos to the German press for doing some excellent investigative reportage... which makes sense, since Mehlis, the UN investigator is a German.

[DemonFighterLives]

2. Doesn't surprise me a bit

The whole mess there has a smell of bushco and sharon.
Am I getting this right?

[texpatriot2004]

3. So it's more and more like Chalabi everyday then w/this report.

Right?

[Eugene]

4. Related AP article about Al-Siddiq

All sides are trying to spin the Al-Siddiq story.

From AP via CHINAdaily:

France arrests Syrian witness in UN probe of Hariri killing
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-17 21:18

French police arrested a former Syrian intelligence officer accused of
lying to U.N. investigators probing the assassination of former Lebanese
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, police and judicial officials said Monday.

<snip>

The arrest warrant, issued by Lebanese Magistrate Elias Eid, accused
Al-Siddiq of giving phony testimony and misleading the U.N. investigation, judicial officials in Lebanon said.

Arab media has billed Al-Siddiq, 45, as being a leading witness in
the probe by chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis of Hariri's killing
earlier this year. Mehlis is to release his report by October 25.

<snip>

According to media reports in Lebanon and the Arab world, Al-Siddiq
claimed he took part in a meeting of Lebanese security officials who
drew up a plan to kill Hariri. He then allegedly left Syria for a
pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia before ending up in France, where he was
interviewed by U.N. investigators.

<snip>


Syria's enemies: He is a witness. Syria is trying to discredit him.

Syria: He is a deserter, a fraud, and a (now former) fugitive.

Conspiracy theory:
Syria planted Al-Siddiq to spread disinformation and
sabotage the investigation.

[dutchdemocrat]

8. Some elaboration on this story...

With Rice pounding on Syria all last week and now Bolton and Bush leaping on the Syrialiban bandwagon - the drumbeat to expanding the war is pounding.

The MSM is bundling Syria and Lebanon, in that order, in the blame game on the death of Hariri - despite the fact that, the lack of evidence implicating the brother of Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and other members of his inner circle, were dropped from the report that was sent to the UN Security Council... for good reason it may have turned out.

The perception around the world is that Syria did indeed have a hand in this terrible bombing crime may have some problems.

Der Spiegel, in Germany, revealed in an investigative piece today, that a central witness in UN-Hariri report is a convicted fraudster - who not only has been convicted several times for embezzlement and fraud (a la Chalabi), Zuheir Mohammed al-Siddiq received a large sum of money for his testimony from an unknown third party. Reportedly he called his brothers from Paris saying; Now I'm a millionaire.

Contact between al Siddiq and the UN investigation team headed by Detlef Mehlis was allegedly made through Syrian dissidents. It turns out that he is the one who implicated Bashar al-Asad's brother and brother-in-law in the killing and, according to the article, the Syrian government provided ample documentation to various western governments on al Siddiq.

The German language article has not yet appeared on Der Spiegel's English version site so I have translated it here using Babelfish.

Syrian Press is retaliating that the report should never have been released until it was completed and that the conspiracy has already started against Syria and Lebanon with the killing of Hariri.

"The main goal is to target Syria as a regime refused to bow to American policy and as it is forming a front to confront the American and Zionist hegemony schemes in the Arab region." states Champress, an electronic newspaper published by the Independent Media Group in Damascus.

In Cairo, Former Assistant Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdullah al-Ash'al said: "The Mehlis report is confused and tries to interject Syria without giving any evidence." "...Mehlis mission is a political task and not judiciary and the report is based on a political conclusion and not on a judiciary one." Al-Ash'al added.

The actual UN Report is available here.

Funny, it makes no mention of Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan, found dead last week in his office of an apparent suicide three weeks after he was questioned by Mehlis's team.

Other reactions from the Arab Press, from the BBC.

Commentary in Syria's Al-Thawrah
The report relies on statements and reports by Lebanese political and media figures that are hostile to Syria... This shows that there is a premeditated intention to politicize the investigation and have it take a specific course that serves the policy of pressure on Syria.
Commentary in Syria's Tishrin
All laws in the world regard a suspect as innocent until proven guilty; therefore, on what ground is Mehlis incriminating Syria if he himself says that what he has in his hands is only 'conjecture?'
Article in Syria's Al-Thawrah
Despite all Syria's cooperation with the investigation committee, the report alleged that Syria's cooperation was neither sufficient nor substantial... this just shows preconceived opinions and prefabricated accusations against Syria.
Commentary in Lebanon's Al-Safir
The Mehlis report is a crucial step forward and will not be the last on the long road to a trial.
editorial in Lebanon's L'Orient Le Jour
A big sigh of relief at the spectacle of this long-awaited truth which has risen inexorably to the surface.
Commentary in Lebanon's The Daily Star
The report... makes mixed but powerful political and legal statements, which spell trouble for Syria and the wider debilitating tradition of security-run Arab regimes...
The most important question... is whether indigenous Arab political and legal forces will be able to harness the credibility, power and courage to continue challenging and taming the modern Arab security state, now that the combination of mass Lebanese citizen activism and legitimate international intervention have paved the way for this historic possibility.
Commentary in London-based Al-Hayat
This investigation was a historic chance for Lebanon, and it is unlikely that such an event will be repeated. Those who were looking for 'the truth' should now use it to restore what the civil war has destroyed, especially with regard to people's minds and spirits.
editorial in Saudi Gazette
The Arabs are in a quandary... The worst-case scenario... is the well-founded fear among Arabs that the UN report will be exploited by the US and Israel to further their agenda in the region, similar to what the infamous UN-led investigation into Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction has done.
editorial in Saudi Arab News
When a respected neutral investigator names members of the inner circle of President Bashar Assad as involved in the dastardly murder, what Syria must do is to prove the charges wrong with evidence that will withstand judicial scrutiny.
But its first reaction has been one of angry denials. Damascus must do better than this, otherwise the serious allegations contained in the report will be a festering wound opening the way for further US-led moves for sanctions against Syria in the UN Security Council.
editorial in Saudi Al-Watan
The Lebanese and Syrian governments should combine their efforts to study the report and cooperate, in order to find the true criminals and bring them to justice as soon as possible, as this is something in the interest of both countries.
editorial in Saudi Al-Jazirah
While the Arab League strives to extinguish the eruption of Iraq's volcano, another volcano is about to erupt... since it is now expected that the UN Security Council will issue resolutions against Syria... This new phase of tension will give rise to violence that will affect the entire Arab region.
editorial in Egypt's Al-Ahram
The Mehlis report was no ordinary one... and its consequences will be dangerous... It is important for all Arab countries to use logic and convincing arguments. As for resorting to the argument that the report is politicised and is part of a plot against Syria... these are just words that will not benefit anyone.
editorial in Egypt's Al-Jumhuriyah
The Arab world, if it is truly united, should now stand by Syria and should not once again make the glaring mistake of keeping silent.
Commentary in Jordan's Al-Dustur
The Mehlis report, with its suggestions and implied accusations against Syria, is a new and reasonable pretext for US interference!... The report is a blatant example of international arrogance.
editorial in Sudan's Al Ayyam
There is no doubt that Syria will face hard times in the near future, and tension will also spread in Lebanon... There is no other way out for Syria but to stick... to what the report stated, that is, all those mentioned in the report will remain innocent until proven guilty.

[IndianaGreen]

10. On the other hand, Siddig is a Syrian exile like Chalabi was in Iraq

Siddig has an agenda which coincides with Bush's war plans for Syria.

The plot thickens!

[allemand]

5. Central witness to Mehlis report revealed as a paid swindler

Hamburg, 22 October - The most prestigious German political news-magazine, Der Spiegel, revealed today that the central witness, Suheir al-Sadiq on whom Detlev Mehlis had relied during his investigations into the assault on Rafiq Hariri, was a dubious person with a criminal record as a convicted felon and swindler. Even the UN Commission which had submitted the Mehlis report to the UN Security Council yesterday, is raising serious doubts about the reliability and credibility of Suheir al-Sadiq's declarations, since it was revealed that the alleged former officer of the Syrian secret services had in reality been convicted more than once for penal offences related to money subtraction.

The German news-magazine reports that the UN investigating Commission is well aware that it had been lied to by Sadiq, who at first had affirmed to have left Beirut one month before the assault on Rafiq al-Hariri, but then had to admit at the end of September his direct involvement in the implementation of the crime.

It is quite evident by now that the witness Sadiq had received money for his depositions, considering that his siblings reveal to have received a phone-call from him from Paris, in late summer, in which Sadiq announced "I have become a millionaire". Doubts regarding the credibility of Sadiq were further fuelled by the revelation that Sadiq had been recommended to Detlev Mehlis by the long-term Syrian renegate Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of the Syrian President who more than once offered himself as "alternative President of Syria" to whomever would succeed in bringing about a "regime change".

To Detlev Mehlis the central witness Sadiq is supposed to have declared that he had put his apartment in Beirut to the disposition of the conspirators to kill Hariri, among them several Syrian intelligence officials. Of himself he had declared to have gathered intelligence for the Syrian services regarding Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. But the Syrian government, revealed Der Spiegel, had sent weeks ago a documentation regarding Suheir al-Sadiq to various Western governments, hoping that Detlev Mehlis would not get caught in the trap of a notorious imposter.
http://www.arabmonitor.info/news/dettaglio.php?idnews=11679&lang=en

[Straight Shooter]

7. The Syrian government sent out red flags warning of Sadiq

But the Syrian government, revealed Der Spiegel, had sent weeks ago a documentation regarding Suheir al-Sadiq to various Western governments, hoping that Detlev Mehlis would not get caught in the trap of a notorious imposter.

And of course, if they knew this and sent out documentation exposing Sadiq, then bush knew.

bush caught lying again.

[IndianaGreen]

11. There were rumors of Mossad involvement in the assassination

since Israel does have a big stake in who controls Lebanon.

Syria was the one that stood the most to lose from the Hariri assassination.

[Straight Shooter]

12. There are also recent rumors of Mossad involvement in Plame outing.

My oh my, they sure do get around, don't they x(

[HereSince1628]

6. So what do we call this one? Slider? Sinker?

Seems there is an inexhaustable supply of readily available liars.

[jsamuel]

9. SHEEETT!