Two Iraqi Diplomats Held in Lebanon
Two Iraqi diplomats accused of involvement in the assassination of a political dissident were arrested by Lebanese police Thursday as they attempted to fly out of Beirut after the closure of their mission over the affair.
Detectives grabbed the two men at Beirut International Airport before they checked in for a flight to Amman, the Jordanian capital. Three other diplomats, including the embassy’s charge d’affaires, Awad Fakhri, were allowed to board the plane.
The arrested men are Hadi Hassan, a low-ranking diplomat suspected of shooting and killing Iraqi dissident Taleb Ali Suheil on April 12; and Consul Ali Sultan Darwish, believed to be the embassy’s intelligence chief and the assassination’s mastermind.
Suheil, 64, was reported to be a key figure in a plot last year to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. His murder led to a break in diplomatic ties between Iraq and Lebanon.
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