A report on an investigation into the assassination of the former prime minister of Lebanon was meant to withhold names of suspects with ties to Syria.
Sometimes it’s the painstaking forensic skills of investigators sifting through hard drives and backup tapes that turn technology into evidence against the accused. In the case of the United Nations investigation into an assassination, Microsoft Word’s ‘Track Changes’ feature unveiled the suspects.
OpinionJournal.com reported that the UN’s secretary general, Kofi Annan, had promised not to change a word of the forthcoming report about the killing of Rafik Hariri. Citing the Times of London, OpinionJournal noted changes were made during and after a meeting between Annan and Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor investigating the crime:
Here’s the key passage, rendered to look like redlined Microsoft Word text (note that this will not appear properly if you’re reading this column as a text e-mail):
One witness of Syrian origin but resident in Lebanon, who claims to have worked for the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon, has stated that approximately two weeks after the adoption of Security Council resolution 1559, Maher Assad, Assef Shawkat, Hassan Khalil, Bahjat Suleyman and Jamil Al-Sayyed senior Lebanese and Syrian officials decided to assassinate Rafik Hariri. He claimed that Sayyed a senior Lebanese security official went several times to Syria to plan the crime, meeting once at the Meridian Hotel in Damascus and several times at the Presidential Place and the office of Shawkat a senior Syrian security official. The last meeting was held in the house of Shawkat the same senior Syrian security official approximately seven to 10 days before the assassination and included Mustapha Hamdan another senior Lebanese security official. The witness had close contact with high ranked Syrian officers posted in Lebanon.
…computer tracking showed that the final edit began at about 11.38am on Thursday–a minute after Herr Mehlis began a meeting with Mr Annan to present his report. The names of Maher al-Assad, General Shawkat and the others were apparently removed at 11.55am, after the meeting ended.
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
