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Saad Hariri interview: Is Lebanon’s prime minister being held against his will?

A MAN in the background holding a note and a Prime Minister on the verge of tears have sparked speculation a TV interview was not what it seemed.

3 min read
November 14, 2017 - 11:37AM
AP
An image grab taken from the Hariri family-owned Lebanese channel, Future TV shows Lebanon’s resigned prime minister Saad Hariri speaking during an interview from Riyadh. Picture: Future TV/AFP
An image grab taken from the Hariri family-owned Lebanese channel, Future TV shows Lebanon’s resigned prime minister Saad Hariri speaking during an interview from Riyadh. Picture: Future TV/AFP

IT’S the bizarre television interview that has raised more questions than answers.

During a live interview shown on Future TV, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced he had resigned to protect his country from imminent danger.

Mr Hariri said he will return to his country “within days” amid a political crisis that erupted when he announced his sudden resignation on November 4 in Saudi Arabia.

However, he didn’t specify the danger threat.

As speculation grows the Middle Eastern powerhouse is holding him against his will, more details surrounding his forced resignation last week emerged, the New York Post reported.

During Sunday’s interview Mr Hariri said he will return to submit his resignation and seek a settlement with his rivals in the coalition government, the militant group Hezbollah.

He said withdrawing his resignation would be conditional on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah committing to remaining neutral on regional conflicts.

Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to neighbouring Syria to support the forces of the country’s leader, President Bashar al-Assad.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud in Riyadh this month. Picture: Saudi Royal Palace/AFP
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud in Riyadh this month. Picture: Saudi Royal Palace/AFP

Mr Hariri looked tired and sad in the interview from Saudi Arabia on his Future TV channel that lasted more than an hour.

The announcement stunned his country and created a mystery that lasted for more than a week. But it was his TV appearance with a Saudi television station filled with bizarre moments that set Twitter alight.

Many questioned if all was what it seemed with the resignation which triggered a political crisis in Lebanon, along with rumours about whether Mr Hariri was under house arrest or being coerced to quit.

Although he met with various ambassadors in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in the days that followed, no one in Lebanon was really sure what was happening to him.

Sunday’s interview by Future TV, a channel associated with his political party, sought to dispel those rumours but it also raised some new questions.

THE MAN IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM

At one point during the interview, Mr Hariri’s eyes were wide open, moving to the back of the room. The camera caught a man in the back corner, behind the interviewer, who was holding what appeared to be a rolled paper.

A man holds a note in the background of Sunday’s interview.
A man holds a note in the background of Sunday’s interview.

The man, whose face was outside the frame, soon disappeared but not before the camera moved back to Mr Hariri, who was staring toward him with an angry and disgusted look.

On Twitter, some Lebanese shared clips of the video and wondered if the man in the back had some kind of message for Mr Hariri, fuelling reports that the Prime Minister was being held against his will.

Mr Hariri and the interviewer, Paula Yacoubian, realised the moment was caught on camera and he said after the break that the man was one of his staff, telling him of the latest developments in Lebanon.

TIRED AND NEAR TEARS

After a belligerent resignation speech on November 4, Mr Hariri looked sad and tired on Sunday, at times holding back tears.

He repeatedly drank water, finishing his glass and asking for more, prompting Yacoubian to hand him her own glass of water. He pleaded with her to finish the questioning after an hour has passed. “You made me tired,” Mr Hariri said.

He repeatedly said he was ready to die for Lebanon — his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was killed by a car bomb in Beirut in 2005 — but he added that he didn’t want his children to go through that kind of ordeal.

When asked about reports that he was not communicative and didn’t use his phone much, he said: “I am in a reflective state,” adding that he didn’t want any distractions amid a very busy schedule. Mr Hariri’s demeanour triggered a new hashtag, #UnderPressure, reflecting that people were unconvinced he was a free man.

KEEPING IT REAL

The Future TV channel had asked its viewers to share questions for Mr Hariri under the hashtag #AskthePM in an attempt to dispel reports that the interview was prerecorded.

“I would never say it was live, if it was a recorded episode,” Yacoubian said near the end of the interview.

Throughout the interview, Yacoubian went to great lengths to prove the interview was live. She first read the time from her phone and then reported to Mr Hariri developments in Lebanon, including protests.

She also read a British Foreign Office statement on the air. Then, when an earthquake was reported in Iraq and Iran, she referenced it, telling Mr Hariri it was to make sure people believed the interview was live.

— with staff writers

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/saad-hariri-interview-is-lebanons-prime-minister-being-held-against-his-will/news-story/7154d5bd39f54537aae9987cba847104