A Syrian newspaper reported on Thursday that a Syrian court sentenced two men to prison for giving "false testimony" implicating Damascus in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the government, said that the two men were identified as Murad Akram, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, including five years with hard labor, and Zuhair Mohamed Saeed Siddiq, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison with 10 years of hard labor.
Siddiq was sentenced in absentia, but Akram has been in custody in Syrian prisons since May 2011, following his transfer from Lebanon after serving out a prison term for drug trafficking charges.
Their testimony stated that four highest-ranking officers in Lebanon were involved in Hariri's death, accusing them of collaborating with Syria to kill him.
The four Generals, Jamil Sayyed, Ali al-Hajj, Raymond Azar and Mustafa Hamdan, spent years in prison in Lebanon before being released for lack of evidence.
Both men later recanted their testimony, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that investigated Hariri's death eventually failed to accuse Syria in the assassination.
Instead, it is hearing the case against five members of Hezbollah, a close ally of Syria.
The trial in absentia of the five suspects accused of killing Lebanese statesman Rafic Hariri opened in The Hague on Thursday January 16th, nine years after the bomb attack in which the former prime minister and 21 others died.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set up by the United Nations at the Lebanese government's request to try the alleged perpetrators of the 2005 bombing in which former PM Hariri and 21 others were killed.
The suspects - Mustafa Amine Badreddine, a senior Hezbollah figure and brother-in-law of slain Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyeh, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra - remain at large.
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