Killers of Lebanese editor threaten to kill new chief of U.N. probe on Hariri

A pro-Syrian group that claimed it killed a Lebanese editor has threatened to kill the next head of the U.N. commission investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the editor's newspaper reported. Syria, meanwhile, promised Wednesday to fully cooperate with the new U.N. investigator, but repeated its demands for an agreement with the U.N. commission defining the terms of its cooperation.

An-Nahar newspaper reported Wednesday that it had received a statement signed by "The Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom in al-Sham," the group that claimed responsibility for the death of the paper's general manager Gibran Tueni with a car bomb on Dec. 12. Al-Sham is the Arabic term for the historical region that encompassed Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The statement said Detlev Mehlis, who stepped down this month as chairman of the U.N. commission, was lucky to escape death. Mehlis had concluded that Syria was involved in the killing of Hariri, who was slain by a truck bomb in Beirut in February. Syria denies the charge.

"Mehlis was able to slip out of our hands a moment before it was too late when he chose to resign because he understood the message and realized that if he did not do that, his end would be wretched like the end of all traitors who betray Arabs and Islam," the statement said. An-Nahar published the full text of the statement, but did not say why it believed it to be authentic or how it had been received. When The Associated Press called the paper's offices, staff said that the person who could answer such questions was not immediately available.

The statement described Mehlis, a German prosecutor, as a "filthy infidel" who had politicized the investigation to implicate Syria. It warned Mehlis's successor, who has not been appointed, not to come to the same conclusions. The statement ended with an ominous Arabic saying: "He who has given advance warning is excused."

At the United Nations, officials and diplomats said Wednesday that Secretary-General Kofi Annan has nominated Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz to lead the next stage of the Hariri probe. They said Brammertz, a deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, had accepted Annan's offer and that the world body was waiting to make an announcement because the chief ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, had not written a letter formally releasing him. They spoke on condition of anonymity because his appointment had not been made public.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said Syria will fully cooperate with the U.N. commission but wants to sign an agreement outlining "the rights and obligations of each side."

Mehlis had rejected a previous Syrian demand to sign a cooperation protocol with the U.N. commission similar to the one signed with Lebanese authorities. Syria will not criticize the new U.N. investigator unless he starts criticizing it, al-Sharaa said, adding, "Syria will cooperate with him to the utmost extent." There was some fear that the United States, which opposes the ICC, might object to Brammertz's appointment, but U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Wednesday that was not the case, reports the AP. I.L.