AFTER THE CRIME : ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
162. The Commission has undertaken extensive measures to map Mr. Hariri, his whereabouts and doings prior to the blast as well as other occurrences, in order to find the motive and the reasons behind the crime.
163. Interviews have been conducted with his relatives, staff members, friends, associates and colleagues. None of these efforts have led anywhere else than to the prelude of Mr. Hariri stepping down from the post as Prime Minister.
164. This information has reinforced a picture of a tense relationship between Mr. Hariri on the one hand and President Lahoud and the Syrian authorities on the other. Evidence is also adduced from the phone conversation between General Ghazali and a senior Lebanese official on 19 July 2004; the conversation between President Assad and Mr. Hariri on 26 August 2004; in Syria, the approach to Mr. Hariri by Yehya Al-Arab, Wissam El-Hassan and Salim Diab in October-November 2004 to increase the security around him due to the political tension and Mr. Hariri's response that "they don't dare to touch me"; the meeting between General Ghazali and Yehya Al-Arab on 13 February 2005; and the Lebanese authorities response to the distribution of olive oil during February 2005.
165. All the key players amongst the competent Lebanese authorities have been interviewed as well as their experts involved in the initial measures of the investigation. The early investigation showed a pattern that no one claimed they had the slightest clue that something was going on around Mr. Hariri that could threaten his life. The efforts undertaken by the Commission during a limited period of time have come to a diametrically opposite conclusion. There were a number of warning signs regarding Mr. Hariri's security in his immediate surroundings in the aftermath of the occurrences during the second half of 2004, in particular when it comes to the context of previous Lebanese experiences of assaults targeting individuals through bombings.
166. On 30 August 2005, the Lebanese authorities arrested and detained four high-level officials of the Lebanese security and intelligence apparatus, pursuant to arrest warrants issued by the Lebanese Prosecutor General based on recommendations from UNIIIC that there was probable cause to arrest and detain them for conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the assassination of Rafik Hariri. The individuals arrested were General Jameel Al-Sayyed, former director general the Sûreté Générale ; General Ali Al-Hajj, former head of the ISF; General Raymond Azar, former head of military intelligence; and General Mustapha Hamdan, Commander of the Republican Guard Brigade.
167. The four have been interviewed by UNIIIC in the presence of counsel. They each continue to deny any involvement in the planning or execution of the assassination of Hariri, any awareness of such a conspiracy beforehand, and undertaking or ordering any actions designed to obstruct the investigation afterwards.
168. As in any investigation, the points of departure for UNIIC have been the victim of the crime, the crime scene and witnesses. In addition, the Commission has focused on the following 5 sub-investigations.
1. Ahmad Abu Adass
169. UNIIIC's investigation into the Abu Adass lead focused on seeking to determine Mr. Abu Adass's whereabouts and evaluating the likelihood that Mr. Abu Adass was actually the suicide bomber he was purported to be.
170. UNIIIC was unable to interview Mr. Abu Adass's father, who had been interviewed by the Lebanese authorities on 14 February 2005, because he died on 7 March 2005 shortly after being called to appear before the Investigative Judge.
171. Mr. Abu Adass's mother, Nehad Moussa, was interviewed by UNIIIC on 7 July 2005, and had previously been interviewed at least four times by Lebanese authorities, the first time on the 14 February 2005. She and Mr. Abu Adass's father Tayser Moussa were illegally detained for approximately 10 days. She stated that she told the Lebanese authorities the following: Mr. Abu Adass disappeared on 16 January 2005 and was not heard from since. According to her, in early January 2005, Mr. Abu Adass explained to her that he had met an individual whom she knew only as "Mohammed" who wanted to convert to Islam from Christianity and Mr. Abu Adass was helping him. Mr. Abu Adass reported that Mohammed appeared to be wealthy and he would occasionally disappear for a period of a week or so. After one such disappearance, on the evening of Saturday, 15 January 2005, Mohammed called their home. Mohammed told Mr. Abu Adass that he would come to pick Mr. Abu Adass up the next morning, to show him a surprise. Mr. Abu Adass left with Mohammed that Sunday, 16 January 2005, promising his mother he would be out only for a few hours, since she had requested that he stay to help her clean a large carpet. Mr. Abu Adass never returned. On Monday morning, Mr. Abu Adass's mother received a call from an individual who told her not to worry about Ahmed as he was in Tripoli where their car had broken down and they were just waiting to have it fixed. Ms. Moussa understood that this was the same individual called "Mohammed" whom she had spoken to on the telephone two days earlier. She asked to speak to her son, but was told that her son was waiting at a house without a phone and the caller was in the car shop. The caller told Ms. Moussa that her son would be back in time to help clean the carpet. At approximately 9 p.m. that same day, she received another call from the individual called "Mohammed" who said they did not have an accident and did not break down. The caller went on to say that Mr. Abu Adass wanted to go to Iraq and would not be coming back. When Ms. Moussa expressed surprise and stated that Mr. Abu Adass had never mentioned any such interest before, the caller said he would try to get her Mr. Abu Adass's phone number so she could try to change his mind. The caller hung up and never called back. The family filed an official missing person's report with the ISF on 19 January 2005.
172. In a follow-up interview with UNIIIC, Ms. Moussa added that Mr. Abu Adass's best friend was a man by the name of Ziad Ramadan whom he had met as a colleague at a computer company approximately two years earlier. The last contact she had with Mr. Ramadan was when he called her several days after her son disappeared to ask if she had any news from her son. In her interviews with the Lebanese authorities, Ms. Moussa stated that she had confirmed that her son did not have a driver's license and that there was no internet connection in their house.
173. UNIIIC was unable to locate Ziad Ramadan to interview. After being interviewed by the Lebanese authorities on 14 February 2005, it appears that Mr. Ramadan returned to Syria with his family. In his interview with the Lebanese authorities, Mr. Ramadan stated that he had known Mr. Abu Adass for approximately two years, as they worked together in the same company for two months. Mr. Ramadan saw Abass last the Thursday or Friday preceding his disappearance, when Abass discussed his new employment decorating book covers.
174. One individual whom neither UNIIIC nor the Lebanese authorities was able to interview so far was Khaled Midhat Taha, another religious associate of Mr. Abu Adass's, who is of significant interest, based on the travel records available for him and some unusual coincidences. Mr. Taha met Mr. Abu Adass when they were students at the Arab University where they used to meet in the University's mosque. According to travel records, Mr. Taha departed from Beirut International Airport for the United Arab Emirates on 21 July 2003 and returned to Beirut on 17 October 2003. The next record for him is an entry into Lebanon coming from Syria by land on 15 January 2005, the day before Mr. Abu Adass's disappearance. The next day, Mr. Taha left Lebanon by land towards Syria. The records do not show a departure from Lebanon prior to 15 January 2005, which indicates that he entered Syria prior to that date illegally. Further investigation revealed that three of Mr. Taha's e-mail addresses went through Damascus and the fourth went through Lebanon itself while purporting to be in Turkey. Moreover, the date of his final departure for Syria from Lebanon --- 16 January 2005 --- is the same as the date of Mr. Abu Adass's disappearance, suggesting a possible link between Mr. Taha's trip to Lebanon and Mr. Abu Adass's disappearance. Moreover, as the Lebanese authorities noted in their report, he was never arrested for his apparently illegal entry into Syria prior to 15 January 2005, even upon his return to Syria on 16 January 2005, an uncommon occurrence, suggesting that his departure and entry the following day were facilitated by someone. The Syrian authorities have recently been approached by UNIIIC to provide the Commission with detailed information on Khaled Taha, especially his travel records into and out of Syria.
175. As noted above, in the course of their investigation, the Lebanese interviewees included Mr. Abu Adass's friends and associates, former neighbors, acquaintances from the mosque, colleagues from former jobs, and classmates. A number of these individuals were re-interviewed by UNIIIC. None had ever heard of Al-Nasra wal Jihad, the group that Mr. Abu Adass was purportedly a member of according to the suicide bomb video message. Many of them reported similar stories of being taken by the ISF, handcuffed, blindfolded, and stripped, and detained for a period of time while being questioned about Mr. Abu Adass and his affiliations with Islamic groups; most reported that they shared with their interrogators their view that Mr. Abu Adass was a loner and introvert who did not have the intelligence to be capable of committing such a crime
176. In response to a request through the Lebanese authorities, the Syrian government informed UNIIIC that their computer files showed no indications that Mr. Abu Adass either entered or left Syria. Iraqi authorities informed the Lebanese authorities through the Iraqi embassy in Beirut that Mr. Abu Adass had not obtained a visa to Iraq.
177. UNIIIC also submitted a request for details of any organization within Lebanon who may have had Mr. Abu Adass under observation between September 2004 and January 2005. The files obtained in response to this request confirmed that no department within Lebanon had Mr. Abu Adass under any observation during the relevant time period.
178. A number of sources, confidential and otherwise, provided information to UNIIIC on the role and whereabouts of Mr. Abu Adass. Although the information provided has not been independently verified, significantly, none of this source information supported the theory that he was a lone suicide bomber acting for an Islamic fundamentalist group. Indeed, all of the source information pointed to the likelihood of Mr. Abu Adass being used by the Syrian and Lebanese authorities as a scapegoat for the crime, rather than being the instigator of crime himself. For example, one witness claimed to have seen Mr. Abu Adass in the hallway outside of General Ghazali's office in December 2004 in Anjar. Another witness claimed that Mr. Abu Adass was currently held in prison in Syria and will be killed once this investigation is over. According to him, Mr. Abu Adass had no role in the assassination except as a decoy, and the videotape was recorded at gunpoint approximately 45 days before the assassination. He later stated that General Assef Shawkat forced Mr. Abu Adass to record the tape approximately 15 days before the assassination in Damascus. He also stated that the tape was given to Al-Jazeera by a woman with the nickname "Um Alaa." Another witness stated that the day after the assassination Faysal Al-Rasheed insisted that the case had been solved and the perpetrator was Mr. Abu Adass, as a suicide bomb and that Mr. Abu Adass's body was still at the crime scene. Zuhir Saddik stated that in early February 2005, he had seen Mr. Abu Adass at the Zabadane training camp in Syria, and that his information was that Mr. Abu Adass had initially planned to commit the assassination but had changed his mind at the last minute. He said that Mr. Abu Adass was subsequently killed by the Syrians, and his body was placed in the vehicle containing the bomb, and thus was destroyed in the crime scene.
179. To date, no DNA evidence has been found on the crime scene that can be linked to Mr. Abu Adass.
180. Despite months of investigation by both UNIIIC and the Lebanese authorities, Mr. Abu Adass remains a mysterious figure. A few significant points can still be made, however, in connection with the Abu Adass investigation.
181. Other than the videotape itself which definitely was of Mr. Abu Adass, there is little else supporting the idea that he perpetrated this assassination through a suicide bomb. There is no evidence, other than the claim on the video itself, of the existence of a group called the Nasra and Jihad Group Of Greater Syria. There is no information about such a group in any open sources prior to 14 February 2005, for example, and neither the Lebanese authorities nor Mr. Abu Adass's friends and acquaintances appear to have even heard of the group prior to the day of the assassination. Nor have any of Lebanon's neighboring countries' security authorities, which have been asked by UNIIIC to provide information on the assassination, have any knowledge of this group. Moreover, Mr. Abu Adass's disappearance on 16 January 2005 has not been explained in a manner that is consistent with the notion that he would be a suicide bomber a month later. Notably, none of the individuals who knew him well considered it likely that he could commit such a crime, in light of his nature and intelligence. Finally, although there is always the possibility that no trace of DNA of a suicide bomber conducting a massive blast would be found, it is noted that there is no evidence of Mr. Abu Adass's DNA at the crime scene or indeed any other evidence, such as witnesses, that he was present at the crime scene at the time of the crime.
182. However, one aspect of the investigation to date is clear: much of the information surrounding Mr. Abu Adass and his disappearance points to Syria. Khaled Taha's peculiar travel records, indicating an entry into Lebanon from Syria the day before Mr. Abu Adass's disappearance, as well as the attempt to obscure his presence in Syria by seeking to show that his emails came from Turkey when they in fact came from Syria, are indicative of the type of evidence pointing to Syrian involvement in Mr. Abu Adass's fate which cannot be discounted as mere coincidence. Moreover, the vague information available about "Mohamed" indicates that he was likely Syrian, and the sudden return to Syria of Mr. Abu Adass's Syrian best friend, Ziad Ramadan, shortly after being interviewed by the Lebanese authorities, all suggest Syrian connections to Mr. Abu Adass's disappearance. Finally, much of the source information relevant to Mr. Abu Adass's fate points to Syria and Syrian officials, as well as certain Lebanese officials. While it is true that little of this source information has been independently corroborated, it is significant that no information points to any other entity as being involved in his disappearance or that he was a suicide bomber. Although this is not definitive, these repeated connections to Syria bear further investigation.
Conclusion:
There is no evidence that Mr. Abu Adass belonged to the group al nasra wal-jihad fee bilad Al-Sham as claimed in the Al-Jazeera videotape, nor even that such a group has ever existed or does exist now. There are no indications (other than the videotape) that he drove a truck containing the bomb that killed Hariri. The evidence does show that it is likely that Mr. Abu Adass left his home on 16 January 2005 and was taken, voluntarily or not, to Syria, where he has since disappeared.
2. Telephone Analysis
183. One of the most important aspects of this investigation has been the analysis of telephones. A specialized software was used to analyze and investigate numerous telephone calls by those figures identified as the most important to the investigation, permitting UNIIIC to achieve an optimal result with limited staff members and a short timeframe. The assistance of the Lebanese telephone companies and authorities was essential to making the analysis effective. For example, the Lebanese telecommunications companies MTC Touch and Alpha responded quickly to requests for cellphone subscriber information and toll records. Similar information on landlines was provided to the Commission through the Ministry of Telecommunications. This prompt assistance was invaluable as it permitted investigators to quickly analyze specific telephone calls of subscribers and to establish patterns of communication between particular groups of subscribers. In total, the Commission requested information on approximately 2,235 subscribers and obtained telephone connection data for approximately 70,195 telephone calls. The telephone analysis, which has already been critical in establishing leads and determining connections between the key figures, will continue to be a central aspect of this investigation as it evolves.
184. According to Ghassan Ben Jeddou, the director of Al-Jazeera, Al-Jazeera received four calls on the afternoon of 14 February prior to airing the Abu Adass videotape. The records revealed only three calls to Al-Jazeera that afternoon, however, at 1411 hrs, 1527 hrs and 1704 hrs.
185. It has not been possible to identify the time or origin of the reported fourth call to Al-Jazeera.
186. Leila Bassam of Reuters reported that they received one telephone call on 14 February regarding Mr. Abu Adass's claim of responsibility for the bombing, which records show occurred at 1411 hrs.
187. Telephone records reveal that the same prepaid card was used to contact Al-Jazeera and Reuters for all of the above telephone calls. It was purchased in Beirut, Najaar, on 10 February 2005. The calls to Al-Jazeera and Reuters were made from four different telephone booths, all located in Beirut and one of which is near the ESCWA Center in downtown Beirut, approximately two kilometers from the crime scene. This prepaid card was only used to dial Al-Jazeera and Reuters and there is no record that it was used to make any other telephone call.
188. The videotape of Mr. Abu Adass confessing to the crime was placed in a tree in front of the ESCWA building in downtown Beirut. UNIIIC obtained and viewed the CCTV tapes from ESCWA for the 14 February 2005 in order to seek to identify any individuals or vehicles that could have been connected to the drop-off of that videotape and the subsequent calls to Al-Jazeera. After viewing these images, however, it was determined that it was not possible to clearly identify any vehicles or individuals approaching the tree in front of ESCWA from the video. UNIIIC investigators also interviewed security guards from Protectron Security, which is responsible for providing security for the parking lots situated next to the ESCWA and Al-Jazeera buildings in downtown Beirut. However, none of the security guards interviewed on duty that day witnessed any unusual activity related to placing an item in the tree in front of ESCWA.
Conclusion:
It has not been possible yet to identify the individual or individuals responsible for telephoning Al-Jazeera and Reuters on 14 February or the individual or individuals responsible for the videotape of Mr. Abu Adass.
3. Use of pre-paid telephone cards
189. Investigative Judge Elias Eid obtained records for and reviewed all of the phone calls on 14 February 2005 to Al-Jazeera. Judge Eid noted one mobile phone call to Al-Jazeera as particularly significant: a call made to Al-Jazeera on a prepaid card at 2207 hrs on 14 February 2005. This same prepaid card received a telephone call one minute after the blast, at 1257 hrs, from a telephone booth located in Tripoli near a building housing Syrian Intelligence Services. On 30 January a call was made to the landline at the home of Mr. Abu Adass's from that same Tripoli phone booth.
190. UNIIIC obtained and reviewed the call records for prepaid card number 03925152 based on this information from Judge Eid. UNIIIC's investigation has revealed so far that while there is no identified subscriber, the card bears significant connections. On 8 February 2005, for example, that prepaid card had a contact with a mobile telephone number belonging to Tarek Ismat Fakhreddin. Mr. Fakhreddin, a prominent businessman, is a close associate of then-Prime Minister Omar Karame. Tarek Fakhreddin also made calls hours after the blast to General Hamdan, General Azar, General Hajj and the Syrian intelligence officer Jamea Jamea. In addition, he had telephone contact with his nephew Raed Fakhreddin at 1337 hrs on the 14 February 2005. Raed Fakhreddin is heavily suspected to have bought the prepaid cards which were used to organize the assassination. The prepaid card also had contacts with another telephone number which was in contact with Raed Fakhreddin's mobile phone in December 2004, and January, February and March 2005.
191. This pre-paid card has also been connected to a number of prominent Lebanese and Syrian officials. For example, the card was in contact with three different numbers which in turn were in contact with Mustafa Hamdan's mobile phone in January, March, and July 2005. Two days before the explosion, on 12 February 2005, this pre-paid card was also in contact with a mobile phone number belonging to ex-Minister Abel Rahim Yussef Murad. Mr. Murad's mobile phone in turn called Ali Hajj after the blast. The mobile phones of Mr. Murad and Tarek Isamt Fakhreddin were in contact with each other on 17 January 2005, one day after Ahmad Abu Adass's disappearance. This prepaid card also had contacts with a telephone number which in turn was in regular contact with the mobile phone number belonging to the politician Nasser Kandil, and the card had contacts with two mobile phone numbers in February and March 2005 which in turn were in contact on 14 and 17 February 2005 with the mobile phone number used by Syrian intelligence officer Jamea Jamea.
192. The prepaid card had contacts with a telephone number on 5 January 2005 which was in contact on 26 January 2005 with the telephone number of Younis Abdel-Al, of Al-Ahbash, the brother of the above-mentioned Ahmed Abdel-Al. The prepaid card was also in contact with a different telephone number on 5 January which was in contact twice on 10 January 2005 to a telephone number belonging to Walid Abdel-Al, a brother of Younis and Ahmed Abdel-Al and a member of Mustafa Hamdan's Republican Guard Brigade.
Conclusion:
The user or users of this pre-paid card on 14 February 2005 is significant and identification of that individual or individuals is a priority for this investigation.
4. Australian Investigation
193. In an interview with UNIIIC, Adnan Addoum, Minister of Justice at the time of the bombing, stated that it was his belief that UNIIIC investigators should pursue this investigation and question the six Australian suspects as to their purpose of traveling. He also indicated his belief that in light of the fact that the vehicle allegedly used in the bombing was a right-hand drive vehicle (as used in Australia), further suspicion should be cast on those six suspects. He added that it was his belief that "due to media and religious pressures, the investigation judge did not give this matter enough importance."
194. UNIIIC investigators thoroughly reviewed the results of the Lebanese and Australian investigation into these six suspects and, as set forth below, have concluded that there is no basis for believing that they had any involvement in the assassination of Hariri. In pursuing this review, UNIIIC investigators also were aware that there were six sim cards used in connection with the assassination, and that usage on the sim cards terminated at the time of the explosion. Noting that there were six suspicious Australians, and six suspicious sim cards, an unusual coincidence, UNIIIC believed that a review of the Australian and Lebanese investigations into this area would be prudent
195. Having closely examined the file, UNIIIC can highlight the following points:
- The Lebanese authorities reported and requested assistance from Interpol to locate and interview the identified suspects in accordance with established protocol.
- The protocol followed by Interpol was correct.
- The Australian authorities were contacted via Interpol to follow up on this matter.
- The Australian authorities carried out a thorough investigation into the matter and presented a report on their findings to the Lebanese authorities.
- The Lebanese authorities properly suspended this present line of inquiry based on the report presented by the Australian authorities.
Conclusion:
Based on the above, the investigation carried out by the Australian authorities and the findings obtained should be considered as conclusive. Mr. Addoum's suspicions are unfounded and there is no evidence to support them. The pursuit of this line of investigation distracted the Lebanese authorities from following other lines of investigation.
5. Ahmad Abdel-Al
196. Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Al, a prominent figure in the Al-Ahbash, was responsible for the public relations and military and intelligence for Al-Ahbash, the Association of Islamic Philanthopic Projects, a Lebanese group with strong historical ties to the Syrian authorities. Abdel-Al has proven to be a significant figure in the light of his links to several aspects of this investigation, especially through his mobile phone which had numerous contacts with all the important figures in this investigation; indeed, it does not appear that any other figure is as linked to all the various aspects of this investigation as Abdel-Al.
197. Abdel-Al was interviewed as a witness and later as a suspect by UNIIIC. Some of his actions, and some statements during his interview, suggest attempts to hide information from the investigation. For example, he tried to hide the origin of his mobile telephone number on giving his prepaid card on 12 March 2005 to his Al-Ahbash friend Mohammed Halawani and requesting that the card be registered in Halawani's name. During UNIIIC's interview with Halawani, it took him several hours to admit that the telephone number in question was in fact used by Ahmad Abdel-Al. Additionally, according to Abdel-Al's statement, on 14 February 2005, he left home and went to the Al-Ahbash office. His telephone records reveal that at 1147 hrs, he had a telephone contact with a number which phoned his home telephone number a number of times immediately before the explosion --- 1226 hrs, 1246 hrs and 1247 hrs. While Abdel-Al told UNIIIC that he called home shortly after the explosion at 1256 hrs, telephone records show that the call was made at 1254 hrs, two minutes before the explosion. Abdel-Al stated, that he did not leave the Al-Ahbash office the day of the blast for security reasons. The telephone records showed four calls to Syrian intelligence officer Jamea Jamea, at 1142 hrs, 1814 hrs, 2023 hrs and 2026 hrs. According to a witness, Abdel-Al visited Jamea Jamea's office the evening of the blast at 19:30 in which the two discussed Mr. Abu Adass. Moreover, shortly after his visit to Jamea Jamea's office, Abdel-Al's mobile phone registered a call to General Ghazali, at 1956 hrs. Abdel-Al also sought to steer the investigation towards Mr. Abu Adass, not only by providing the Lebanese authorities with extensive information on Mr. Abu Adass shortly after the blast, but also stating to UNIIIC that the Al-Ahbash Security Service had seen Mr. Abu Adass before the assassination in the Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian camp together with Abu Obeida the deputy leader of the terrorist group Asbat al Ansar.
198. There are also numerous contacts between Ahmad Abdel-Al and Lebanese State Security on the day of the blast. For example, Abdel-Al had almost daily telephone contact with Brigadier General Faysal Rasheed, Chief of State Security in Beirut and on 14 February 2005, they had telephone contact at 1035 hrs, 2008 hrs, 2113 hrs, 214 hrs and 2216 hrs. Ahmad Abdel-Al also had contact with suspect Raymond Azar, of the Lebanese Army, on 14 February 2005, as well as 16 and 17 February 2005. There was a call between the mobile phone of Albert Karam, another member of the Lebanese Army Intelligence, and Ahmad Abdel-Al on 14 February as well, at 1212 hrs, about 44 minutes before the blast.
199. Abdel-Al's phone also had extensive telephone contacts with Mustafa Hamdan's phone, as 97 calls occurred between the two between January and April 2005. Of these, four were made on 14 February 2005, after the explosion. Ahmad had two telephone contacts with his brother, Walid Abdel-Al, a member of the Republican Guard, the day of the blast at 16:15 and 17:29. In addition, Abdel-Al received a call on 11 February 2005 at 2217 hrs from the same telephone booth used to call Al-Jazeera shortly after the blast on the 14 February. He also received a call on the 4 February 2005 at 19:34 and on 26 February 2005 at 0933 hrs from the booth used to call Reuters shortly after the blast.
200. Abdel-Al has been in frequent contact with Mahmoud Abdel-Al, his brother, who is also active in Al-Ahbash. Mahmoud Abdel-Al's telephone calls on 14 February are also interesting: he made a call minutes before the blast, at 1247 hrs, to the mobile phone of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and at 1249 hrs had contact with Raymond Azar's mobile telephone.
201. Abdel-Al also has notable connections to a significant weapons store discovered in southern Beirut in July 2005. This weapons store was raided by the ISF on 26 July 2005 and five people, with close connections to the former Mourabitoun militia, were arrested. One of the arrestees was the driver and bodyguard of Majed Hamdan, Mustafa Hamdan's brother, who runs a firm which reportedly provided security for the St. George Hotel. Abdel-Al reportedly arranged for another arrestee to be employed as an electrician in the presidential palace. Furthermore, immediately after the arrests, another individual fled and promptly telephoned Ahmad Abdel-Al.
Conclusion:
The evidence, including his links to other important figures, especially Mustapha Hamdan and the Republican Guard, his telephone calls and his involvement in the Lebanese investigation into Mr. Abu Adass, make Ahmad Abdel-Al a key figure in any ongoing investigation.
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