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BEIRUT (AFP) — Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said a decision by a UN-backed court to free Lebanese officers held over the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri does not mean the tribunal is "honest."

Nasrallah also called anew on the Lebanese authorities to widen its investigation into the 2005 assassination of Hariri to probe a possible involvement by Hezbollah's archfoe Israel.

On Wednesday the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon based in The Hague ordered the release of four Lebanese officers jailed since almost four years saying there was insufficient evidence to charge them.

Their release "is proof that... their detention was political," Nasrallah said in a speech aired on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.

"The decision that was announced... does not mean that the court is honest," he said, adding that the court's decision "ended a black phase."

"But today is a new start and we will not pre-judge the court, positively or negatively," he said calling on the prosecution and the investigation to show "they are far removed from politics."

The four officers, considered pro-Syrian, released on Wednesday are the former head of the presidential guard, Mustafa Hamdan, 53, security services director Jamil Sayyed, 58, domestic security chief Ali Hajj, 52, and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar, 56.

Nasrallah also asked the investigation ... >>>