Hariri's son wants killers to face international court

BEIRUT - The son of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri's Rafik al-Hariri called on Saturday for an international court to punish his killers as pressure mounted on Syria after a damning UN probe into the murder.

The United States is working to arrange a quick high-level UN Security Council meeting to consider a response to the investigation that implicated senior Syrian officials in the February 14 assassination.

A UN report said on Thursday the decision to kill Hariri "could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials" colluding with counterparts in Lebanon.

Hariri's son and political heir, Saad, said in a televised address to the Lebanese from his temporary residence in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that he was seeking justice, not revenge.

"We call on the international community to uphold its support for the international commission into the assassination of Mr. Hariri to unearth the full truth and bring the perpetrators to justice in an international court," he said.

"We are not seeking revenge, we are seeking justice."

Syrian officials dismissed the report as political and said the charges were false but left the door open for future cooperation with the probe.

"If there is any demand coming from the commission we will discuss it with the commission and we might agree," Foreign Ministry official Riad al-Daoudi told a news conference when asked whether Syria would allow further quizzing of officials.

"We will cooperate but we'll see what are the boundaries of this cooperation and its elements," he said, adding that talk of sanctions against Syria was premature.

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Friday the report was deeply disturbing, adding he had asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to request that the United Nations "convene a session as quickly as possible" to discuss the report.

Rice said the council meeting would probably be at the level of foreign ministers. A council session was planned for Tuesday.

Sanctions sought

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said council members would consider sanctions, but acknowledged the West had to work to win support from all members for its pressure on Syria.

"We can't anticipate exactly how discussion of a resolution is going to come out. But we will be working very hard with France and other key partners to secure the best possible result," he said.

Russia, which has a veto on the Council, is a traditional ally of Syria.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan extended the Mehlis investigation for three months, which suggests no strong action was expected until the probe ends on December 15.

The Bush administration has been at odds with Syria for some time, accusing Damascus of doing too little to stop foreign fighters from entering neighboring Iraq. Syria, in turn, says the United States has not done enough to secure the border or deliver technical help it has promised.

At the United Nations, the report's credibility came into question after a final version of it omitted the names of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brother and brother-in-law from a key paragraph on who made the decision to kill Hariri.

A security source said on Saturday that Lebanese authorities had arrested a man the report said had telephoned Lebanese President Emile Lahoud minutes before the explosion. The disclosure prompted calls for Lahoud's resignation among anti-Syrian parliamentarians in Beirut.

Lahoud's office denied the president took such a call and indicated he would not be forced from office.

Security forces detained Mahmoud Abdel-Al early on Saturday based on a warrant issued by Lebanon's Prosecutor General Saeed Meerza, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The report said Abdel-Al "made a call minutes before the blast" to Lahoud's mobile phone.

Hariri was a strong critic of Syria's domination of Lebanon, and many Lebanese have long suspected a link between his killing and the Syrians and their Lebanese allies.

His death sparked world outrage and Lebanese protests that forced Syria to end its 29-year military presence through which it had dominated life in its small neighbor.

Hariri's son said he was "very encouraged" by Annan's decision to extend the mandate of the commission.

(additional reporting by Alaa Shahine in Beirut, Dubai bureau, Saul Hudson in Birmingham, Alabama)

- REUTERS