Charbel Advises Equipping Phone Call Center to Avoid Telecom Data Row

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Monday he signed a bill to better equip a phone call interception command center in a move that would allow it to receive the so-called controversial telecom data.

In remarks to al-Liwaa daily, Charbel said if approved, the bill would allow the center to receive the equipment and later provide security bodies with the data to thwart security attacks or probe any incident that threatens to spiral out of control, including assassination attempts on Lebanese officials.

The equipment would help defuse the tension between politicians on whether to hand over the data or not to the security agencies without resorting to the telecommunications ministry or the three-member expert judicial committee, he said.

The security apparatuses represented in the control room would receive the data and analyze them without prior permission, he added.

But the government will most likely “liberate” the data withheld from security agencies through an agreement between its different members in an attempt to ward off accusations that it was covering crimes or assassination attempts, An Nahar said.

Last week, MP Butros Harb escaped a murder attempt after detonators were found in the elevator of a building where he has an office in Beirut’s Badaro district.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea also escaped sniper fire at his residence in Maarab in April.

Lawmaker Sami Gemayel was advised by security agencies to take precautions and reports have said that al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader Fouad Saniora had received a warning that he may be targeted as well.