Wissam al-Hassan
| Wissam al-Hassan وسام الحسن |
|
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
11 April 1965 Btouratige, Koura District, Lebanon |
| Died | 19 October 2012 (aged 47) Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon |
| Cause of death | Assassinated |
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Spouse(s) | Anna al-Hassan |
| Children | Majd Mazen |
| Occupation | Chief of Information Branch |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Military service | |
| Rank | Brigadier general |
Wissam Adnan al-Hassan (Arabic: وسام عدنان الحسن Wisām ‘Adnān al-Ḥasan; 11 April 1965 – 19 October 2012) was a brigadier general at the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the head of its intelligence-oriented information branch. Seen as a leading Sunni figure in Lebanon, he was also a key player in the opposition March 14 alliance without having a political position.
Al-Hassan was born into a Sunni family in the northern Lebanese city of Btouratige, Koura District, Lebanon, on 11 April 1965. However, the UN report cites his birth place as Tripoli.
From 1992 to 1995 al-Hassan was official guard of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. During this period, he was an internal security officer under Ali Al Hajj. In 1995, he was appointed Hariri's chief of protocol and served in this post until 1998. Then he was named as the head of the Hariri office (1998 - 2000). He worked as Hariri's head guard detachment from June 2001 to Summer 2004, and also, promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in this period. Then he began to work for Saad Hariri as head of his office from 2004 to January 2006, and resigned from the ISF during this period.
Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive car bomb in Beirut on 14 February 2005. As Hariri's chief of protocol, al-Hassan would have normally been in the motorcade that was hit by the attack, but he had taken the day off to undergo a university exam.
In 2010, the U.N. investigators from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon suspected that al-Hassan was involved in the assassination of Hariri and recommended that he warranted a further detailed investigation, since they considered his alibi to be "weak and inconsistent." However, Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, said he had always had full confidence in al-Hassan. Al-Hassan was not among those indicted by the tribunal in January 2011. The tribunal's prosecutors are instead seeking the arrest of four members of the pro-Syrian Shia Muslim group Hezbollah. Reportedly, the U.N. investigators decided not to proceed with investigations to al-Hassan's involvement for fear of damaging relations with the ISF.
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