BEIRUT, Lebanon: A Lebanese judge filed charges Wednesday against three journalists accused of breaking into the Beirut apartment of a witness in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, a judicial official said.Investigating Judge Elias Eid filed the charges against reporter Firas Hatoum, who works with the local New-TV station, as well as a cameraman and assistant, for breaking into and "tampering with criminal evidence" at the apartment of Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, who is wanted in Lebanon in connection with the Feb. 2005 assassination of Hariri.

The three were detained Friday and officials said they would be moved to a suburban prison east of Beirut. The officials did not specify what condemnation the TV crew would face if found guilty.Siddiq, a Syrian, was freed from a French prison in February. The judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to give statements to the press, said a plain-clothed police agent had been observing Siddiq's apartment and photographed Hatoum and his team breaking into the house through a window. The news editor of New-TV, Mariam al-Bassam, acknowledged Hatoum illegally entered the apartment. "The aim was to take pictures of the building from the outside, but Firas was encouraged by the owner of the building and others who told him he could enter the apartment," she told The Associated Press.

The witness was detained in Oct. 2005 when the U.N. commission investigating Hariri's assassination recommended his arrest on grounds he give false evidence to investigators. Lebanese prosecutors have since charged him in absentia and want him extradited for giving false testimony to mislead the U.N. investigation and playing an indirect role in Hariri's killing.

Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Amr Moussa Saturday said that the Arab mediation for Lebanese political crisis will continue and warned against more escalation, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. TV reported. "I can not say that the Arab initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis was a success nor I can say it was a failure, but I assure it will not stop," Moussa told reporters at a news conference held in Lebanese government offices.

Moussa also called for no more escalation for the current crisis because "Lebanon is facing a dangerous turning point." The AL chief previously arrived here on Tuesday for a new round of talks with Lebanese rival leaders, and then left for Damascus for couple of days seeking for Syrian backing to ease the growing tensions in Lebanon.

During his Tuesday visit in Lebanon, the Moussa held separate talks which he described as "positive" with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier Fouad Seniora, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michael Aoun and ex- president Amin Gemayel.