Syrian interior minister commits suicide after probe
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan committed suicide in his office on Wednesday, officials said, three weeks after he was questioned by a U.N. team probing the killing of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
About an hour before Kanaan was believed to have placed a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, he called a Lebanese radio station to comment on Syrian-Lebanese ties, ending with the words: "I think this is the last statement I might give."
Kanaan's apparent suicide came a week before chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis presents the findings of his inquiry into Hariri's February killing.
Shortly before news of Kanaan's death broke, President Bashar al-Assad told CNN Syria was not involved in Hariri's death and that he could never have ordered it.
Asked if Syrian officials would have ordered the killing without his knowledge, he said: "I don't think so. If it happened then it's treason.
"If (Syrians) are implicated they should be punished. International (court) or Syrian, whatever."
At least one Syrian member of parliament questioned the official version, saying he doubted Kanaan killed himself.
Syrian authorities, already under pressure from the United States which says they allow fighters into Iraq, have grown increasingly nervous over Lebanese and international charges Syria was linked to Hariri's death.
The official news agency SANA reported the suicide of the 63-year-old minister and said investigations were under way.
"There was blood on his face. The initial indications are that he put the gun in his mouth and shot himself," a political source said, adding that he died around 11 a.m. (0900 GMT).
U.S. President George W. Bush declined to comment on Kanaan, but said Syria was still far too involved in Lebanon.
He also repeated U.S. warnings to Syria that it should do more to stop foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq.
"I don't want to prejudge the report that's coming out -- the Mehlis report," Bush told reporters when asked about Kanaan's death and its implications for the Hariri probe.
"It's one thing to have been asked to remove troops and all intelligence services. Now the world wants for, expects, Syria to honour the democracy in the country of Lebanon."
In his phone interview to the Voice of Lebanon radio station before his suicide, Kanaan denied reports in Lebanese media that he showed the U.N. investigators photocopies of cheques paid to him by the late Hariri.
INCREASED SCRUTINY
The Syrian government issued a statement mourning Kanaan's death but gave no other details. State radio and television continued normal programming.
"Whatever happens, stability won't be shattered in Syria. We are one of the most stable countries in the region," Information Minister Mahdi Dakhl-Allah told Al Jazeera pan-Arab television.
Asked if the suicide was linked to the U.N. investigation, Dakhl-Allah said: "Of course, the timing is sensitive. But I'm talking about facts and not suspicion and speculation."
Hospital sources said Kanaan, who was Syria's top official in Lebanon for two decades until 2002, was taken from his office to a nearby private hospital before midday.
Syrian MP Mohammed Habash cast doubts on Syria's official version of Kanaan's death.
"There didn't seem to be any signs of stress on Ghazi Kanaan. Yesterday we were with him in a ministerial meeting and everything appeared normal," he said in telephone interview with al-Arabiya pan-Arab news channel.
"It's unbelievable this death by suicide and we don't know how the death of Kanaan actually came."
Some ordinary Syrians said they feared Kanaan's death might be seen abroad as a plot, rather than the result of Kanaan's sense of betrayal at Syria's pullout from Lebanon which Hariri's killing prompted.
"This will be exploited by Syria's foes to prove that it's an attempt at a cover-up rather than an act of despair by a military man whose pride could no longer swallow such indignity and betrayal," said Abdul Latif Shamal, a barber in Damascus.
Four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals have been arrested and charged in Hariri's assassination. Many Lebanese say Syria ordered the killing but Damascus has repeatedly denied any role.
"My testimony ... was to shed the light on an era during which we have served Lebanon," Kanaan said in his last comments.
"I want to make clear that our relation with our brothers in Lebanon was based on love and mutual respect ... We have served Lebanon's interest with honour and honesty."
Kanaan, a Baathist major general, was the head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon from 1982 until 2002. He then became chief of the Syrian political security directorate and was appointed interior minister in 2004.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury said it was freezing the assets of Kanaan and his successor as Syria's top official in Lebanon, General Rustom Ghazali, "to financially isolate bad actors supporting Syria's efforts to destabilise its neighbours".
About an hour before Kanaan was believed to have placed a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, he called a Lebanese radio station to comment on Syrian-Lebanese ties, ending with the words: "I think this is the last statement I might give."
Kanaan's apparent suicide came a week before chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis presents the findings of his inquiry into Hariri's February killing.
Shortly before news of Kanaan's death broke, President Bashar al-Assad told CNN Syria was not involved in Hariri's death and that he could never have ordered it.
Asked if Syrian officials would have ordered the killing without his knowledge, he said: "I don't think so. If it happened then it's treason.
"If (Syrians) are implicated they should be punished. International (court) or Syrian, whatever."
At least one Syrian member of parliament questioned the official version, saying he doubted Kanaan killed himself.
Syrian authorities, already under pressure from the United States which says they allow fighters into Iraq, have grown increasingly nervous over Lebanese and international charges Syria was linked to Hariri's death.
The official news agency SANA reported the suicide of the 63-year-old minister and said investigations were under way.
"There was blood on his face. The initial indications are that he put the gun in his mouth and shot himself," a political source said, adding that he died around 11 a.m. (0900 GMT).
U.S. President George W. Bush declined to comment on Kanaan, but said Syria was still far too involved in Lebanon.
He also repeated U.S. warnings to Syria that it should do more to stop foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq.
"I don't want to prejudge the report that's coming out -- the Mehlis report," Bush told reporters when asked about Kanaan's death and its implications for the Hariri probe.
"It's one thing to have been asked to remove troops and all intelligence services. Now the world wants for, expects, Syria to honour the democracy in the country of Lebanon."
In his phone interview to the Voice of Lebanon radio station before his suicide, Kanaan denied reports in Lebanese media that he showed the U.N. investigators photocopies of cheques paid to him by the late Hariri.
INCREASED SCRUTINY
The Syrian government issued a statement mourning Kanaan's death but gave no other details. State radio and television continued normal programming.
"Whatever happens, stability won't be shattered in Syria. We are one of the most stable countries in the region," Information Minister Mahdi Dakhl-Allah told Al Jazeera pan-Arab television.
Asked if the suicide was linked to the U.N. investigation, Dakhl-Allah said: "Of course, the timing is sensitive. But I'm talking about facts and not suspicion and speculation."
Hospital sources said Kanaan, who was Syria's top official in Lebanon for two decades until 2002, was taken from his office to a nearby private hospital before midday.
Syrian MP Mohammed Habash cast doubts on Syria's official version of Kanaan's death.
"There didn't seem to be any signs of stress on Ghazi Kanaan. Yesterday we were with him in a ministerial meeting and everything appeared normal," he said in telephone interview with al-Arabiya pan-Arab news channel.
"It's unbelievable this death by suicide and we don't know how the death of Kanaan actually came."
Some ordinary Syrians said they feared Kanaan's death might be seen abroad as a plot, rather than the result of Kanaan's sense of betrayal at Syria's pullout from Lebanon which Hariri's killing prompted.
"This will be exploited by Syria's foes to prove that it's an attempt at a cover-up rather than an act of despair by a military man whose pride could no longer swallow such indignity and betrayal," said Abdul Latif Shamal, a barber in Damascus.
Four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals have been arrested and charged in Hariri's assassination. Many Lebanese say Syria ordered the killing but Damascus has repeatedly denied any role.
"My testimony ... was to shed the light on an era during which we have served Lebanon," Kanaan said in his last comments.
"I want to make clear that our relation with our brothers in Lebanon was based on love and mutual respect ... We have served Lebanon's interest with honour and honesty."
Kanaan, a Baathist major general, was the head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon from 1982 until 2002. He then became chief of the Syrian political security directorate and was appointed interior minister in 2004.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury said it was freezing the assets of Kanaan and his successor as Syria's top official in Lebanon, General Rustom Ghazali, "to financially isolate bad actors supporting Syria's efforts to destabilise its neighbours".
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