Germany unhappy with Lebanon help on train bombs

BERLIN, Nov 12 (Reuters) Germany is unhappy with help from Lebanese authorities holding a suspect believed to have been involved in a failed attempt to detonate bombs on two German trains, the federal prosecutor was quoted as saying today.

Monika Harms told Bild am Sonntag newspaper Germany was still waiting for Lebanese police records on the interrogation of suspect Jihad Hamad and the lack of a law enforcement treaty between the two nations was hampering the investigation.

''In any case it could go more smoothly,'' Harms told the paper when asked if Lebanon was being uncooperative. ''But we are in talks with the authorities there and are stepping up our efforts to get the records.'' Hamad is believed to have been part of a plot to detonate bombs packed into suitcases on trains in July in the cities of Dortmund and Koblenz. Another suspect, Youssef Mohamad E H, is being held in Germany.

''We are still in the thick of our investigations and a long way from the end,'' she told Bild am Sonntag.

Asked whether Germany would use evidence from Lebanon if it emerged police there had used torture to obtain it, Harms said there was nothing to suggest torture had been employed.

''We have no evidence that Jihad H could have been tortured in any way in Lebanon,'' Harms said.

''Officials from the federal crime office were present on occasion at the interrogations,'' she added. ''If we had serious evidence of torture we would not use the records.'' REUTERS AKJ PM1807