Lebanese President Emile Lahoud was reported Sunday to have evaded a meeting requested by the Detlev Mehlis commission to question him on Rafik Hariri's murder. The commission requested an official meeting with Lahoud before the Friday's release of the U.N. report in order to question him as a "witness" about the early stages after the assassination, the As Safir daily reported.
"But the president refused to give the appointment, citing preoccupation with other affairs at the time the request was made," the Beirut-based daily said, adding that the commission wanted to ask Lahoud about the mobile phone call made to his mobile phone by Mahmoud Abdel-Al, an activist of Lebanon's pro-Syrian Al Ahbash organization.
In a related development, Beirut police arrested Abdel-Al after being accused of calling the president on his mobile telephone from the crime scene just three minutes before the assassination. Lahoud has denied answering the Abdel-Al call.
A police statement said Abdel-Al was detained in Beirut on Saturday at the orders of Lebanon's State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza and Judge Elias Eid.
Abdel-Al's brother is a prominent figure in Al-Ahbash group, Ahmad Abdel-Al, whom the UN report identified as a "key figure" in the ongoing investigation. Another brother is an officer of the presidential guard brigade that handles President Lahoud's personal security.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Mirza issued a travel ban for 11 Lebanese senior politicians and security officials in connection with the ongoing Lebanese investigation into Hariri's assassination.
