[JURIST] Syrian President Bashar Assad [Wikipedia profile] on Saturday formed a special judicial committee to conduct a state investigation into Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. The committee will be led by Syria's prosecutor-general, and will also include the military prosecutor and a judge yet to be named by the justice minister. Syria vigorously disputes the findings of the UN report [text, PDF] that connects the Syrian government with the killings [JURIST report], but has agreed to cooperate with the ongoing UN investigation. Earlier in the week, UN investigator Detlev Mehlis called for Syria to conduct such an investigation to assist with the UN effort; on Wednesday, the US and France proposed a UN resolution [JURIST report] calling for ecomomic sanctions against Syria if they did not fully cooperate with the UN inquiry. AP has more.