Syria’s former vice-president faces treason charge
On Friday, Mr Khaddam said in a television interview from Paris that Syrian President Bashar Assad had threatened former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri months before he was assassinated in a truck bombing on February 14, 2005.
Mr Khaddam, whose allegations provoked an outcry in official Syrian circles, told Al-Arabiya television that Mr Assad warned Mr Hariri in August 2004 against pushing for a new president in Lebanon. Mr Assad planned to extend the term of President Emile Lahoud, a pro-Syrian whom Mr Hariri was known to oppose.
Syria’s push for the three-year extension of the staunchly pro-Syrian Mr Lahoud’s presidency in September 2004 - which required a constitutional amendment - was considered responsible for the crisis in Lebanese-Syrian relations that led to Mr Hariri’s assassination and the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon in April, 2005, after nearly three decades.
In the extensive television interview - Mr Khaddam’s first since he left Syria - the former leader quoted the Syrian president as telling Mr Hariri: “You want to bring a (new) president in Lebanon ... I will not allow that. I will crush whoever attempts to overturn our decision.”
The decision to strip Mr Khaddam of party membership was announced in a statement issued by the Ba’ath Party’s National Leadership, the country’s highest decision-making authority, which is headed by Mr Assad. On Saturday, parliament passed a binding measure that Khaddam be tried for high treason, a charge that is reserved for high officials and carries the death penalty. The measure was sent to the Justice Ministry so it could prepare a case against Mr Khaddam.
While Mr Khaddam said in the interview that he planned to return to Syria after his stay in Paris with his family to write a book, it was unclear if he would go back with a treason charge lodged against him. It was also unclear what the next step would be for Syrian authorities if treason charges are brought.
Mr Khaddam issued his claims as he declared a formal break with Mr Assad, citing corruption and his failure to institute reforms.
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