UAE: Former Syrian spy sentenced to jail time, deportation

Abu Dhabi's supreme court sentenced former Syrian intelligence officer Mohammad Zuhair Siddiq to six months in jail and deportation for entering the United Arab Emirates on a fake Czech passport that Siddiq claims was given to him by French intelligence.

Siddiq, once a star witness in the international tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, is suspected of giving false information in an attempt to implicate Syria in the explosion that killed Hariri and 22 others in 2005. Since then, investigators for the tribunal have dismissed Siddiq's testimony, and warrants for his arrest have been issued by the Lebanese and Syrian governments.

Siddiq's lawyer, Fahd Al-Sabhan, indicated to local reporters that he will fight the deportation sentence if it means his client will be handed over to Syrian authorities, which would be tantamount to extradition.

AFP quoted Sabhan as saying that Siddiq "could be deported or not deported depending on the sovereign executive decision." The court did not specify the country to which Siddiq would be deported.

Siddiq was arrested outside Paris in 2005 after Hariri's death, but was later released. In 2008, he resurfaced in the emirates when he was arrested for entering the country using a fake passport. Siddiq maintains that French intelligence gave him the passport and that the UAE government knowingly allowed him to enter the country.

Siddiq was dubbed the "king witness" in the investigation into Hariri's assassination after implicating top level Syrian officials, including Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother and brother-in-law, as well as the pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. Siddiq's testimony was compromised, however, after reports surfaced that he had been paid off by a third party.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Mohammad Zuhair Siddiq. Credit: Naharnet