Syria to allow UN investigator to question relatives of president in Hariri probe News
Syria to allow UN investigator to question relatives of president in Hariri probe

[JURIST] Syria [JURIST news archive] has agreed to allow Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor leading the UN probe of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive], to interview two relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile]. The Syrian Ambassador to Britain, Sami al-Khiyami, told the BBC Tuesday that the president's brother and brother-in-law would agree to see the UN commission. Maher al-Assad, the president's brother is the head of Syria's presidential guard, and his brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat, is the head of military intelligence. Both men were implicated in Mehlis' interim report [PDF text]. The offer comes a day after a UN resolution [text] demanded cooperation with the Hariri probe [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.