Geagea: Human Rights Committee Session Witnessed a Real Charade

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday said that “the session held Monday by the (parliamentary) human rights committee had witnessed a real charade, as the judiciary was used to cover up an operation whose chapters are still shrouded in mystery.”

Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal MPs wrangled on Monday at the committee meeting which witnessed curses, threats and counter accusations.

The committee was scheduled to discuss a report prepared by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi on the alleged involvement of the Syrian embassy in the disappearance of Syrian opposition activists in Lebanon.

Lawmakers from the opposition March 14 camp, which al-Mustaqbal is part of, accused the parliamentary majority of seeking to turn the session into a “trial” over Rifi’s information while the Hizbullah-led forces said the opposition was angered by remarks by State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza that members of the Jassem family had dropped their case in the kidnapping.

According to Rifi’s report, the four Jassem brothers were kidnapped in Lebanon by members of the Syrian embassy staff and an Internal Security Forces guard unit headed by Lt. Salah Hajj in February.

But Mirza informed lawmakers that the Jassem family dropped its lawsuit claiming the four brothers were not kidnapped.

“This issue smears the reputation of the Lebanese judiciary and harms its image, which is supposed to be above all else. It also smears the Lebanese state’s reputation before the Lebanese citizens and the Arab and foreign peoples,” Geagea said Tuesday.

Commenting on the issue of Hizbullah’s controversial attempt to install a private telecom network in the town of Tarshish, Geagea stressed: “This matter is unacceptable, neither in Tarshish nor in other Lebanese towns.”

Geagea said the ministry of telecommunications must shoulder its responsibilities in this regard, “because Hizbullah is using the telecom ministry’s new networks to install its own illegal cables.”

He also called on Telecom Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui to “instruct the contractors and the ministry technicians to refuse to install any illegal cables.”