General Prosecutor Demands Lifting MP Harb's Immunity
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
General Prosecutor Judge Hatem Madi demanded on Monday to strip MP Butros Harb of his parliamentary immunity over remarks he made on the judiciary and President Michel Suleiman after Mahmoud Hayek was charged with the attempt on his life.
The state-run National News Agency reported that Madi handed over to Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi a request to refer a demand to the parliament to lift immunity off Harb in order for him to be prosecuted over insulting the president and accusing the judiciary of plotting a conspiracy against him.
“It is ironic that a judge would allow himself to request my prosecution,” Harb said later in comments to MTV channel.
The March 14 MP revealed over the weekend that several judges were holding deals with officials in an attempt to close the case of his assassination.
Harb will hold a press conference at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday in order to respond to Madi's request.
State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr charged last week Hayek, a Hizbullah member, with the assassination attempt on Harb in July 2012 and with carrying out acts of terror.
If convicted the suspect, who remains at large, could be sentenced to death.
The MP received telephone calls of condemnation of the request from various officials, including Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel, former Premier Saad Hariri, Mustaqbal bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora, and a number of lawmakers.
The March 14 General Secretariat later condemned Madi's request, noting: “The decision was made less than 48 hours after the lawmaker made his statements, but the charges against Hayek were made nearly seven months after the assassination attempt.”
“The request is not based on any legal investigation, but it is an attempt to derail the course of the investigation in Harb's assassination attempt,”it said in a statement.
The March 14 General Secretariat therefore voiced its solidarity with Harb, hoping that Madi would retract his request “for the sake of the judiciary and its integrity.”
The March 14 opposition lawmaker escaped the assassination bid after residents of a building in which his office is located in the Beirut district of Badaro discovered individuals trying to booby-trap the elevator.
A string of high-level assassinations struck Lebanon between 2004 and 2008, targeting political, media and security figures who vocally opposed the Syrian government, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was killed in a powerful car bomb blast in February 2005.
04 February 2013, 12:56
519
the ridiculous is getting more ridiculous :)
a corrupt judge sold out to hizbushaitan (thus traitor) wants to lift the immunity of an MP for saying things the way they are :)
what a world we live in.
04 February 2013, 13:40
612
karim_m1, idiots of your caliber are very hard to come by.
your ability to say absolutely nothing mining-full is exceptional
keep up the good work!
04 February 2013, 13:58
19
The man almost got incinirated and he is now prosecuted for critisizing the sanctified judiciary and the holly President?
04 February 2013, 14:19
36
Long time overdue! Too bad this time the Syrians are not here to rescue one of their shoe-shiners.
04 February 2013, 15:08
00
the law must be above all , even mp, presidents , ministers , kings , .....
god bless lebanon
04 February 2013, 15:35
55
His immunity shouldn't be lifted. They should wait for his MP mandate to end (if not renewed in the upcoming elections). That's how it works.
04 February 2013, 15:54
314
People who 'say' in Lebanon are prosecuted, while people who 'do' and act and assassinate are left at large. Hizbullah is Lebanon's cancer (kudos for Miqati for saying it as it is, hats off to him). Instead of calling for arresting Harb, the judiciary should be calling for arresting Hassan Nasrallah for operating and heading a terrorist organization. But terrorists have their pets, like Aoun, who protect their owners. Aoun is a dog who betrayed his country and threw himself in the lap of terrorists. God's curse on all of them for where they are dragging us.
04 February 2013, 16:19
35
@karim_m1 & FlameThrower
I have the pleasure to inform you that you have ranked first ex-aequo in the competition for the most stupid, ,cretin, moron and idiot on the forum of Naharnet. May i suggest that you compete now on the forums of other sites. I am sure that you will be the winners.
04 February 2013, 16:27
13
Never seen so many saints by the names of Saint Hassan, Saint Hussein, Saint Mahmoud Hayek, all living in hiding in the southern suburb for fear of persecution.
04 February 2013, 17:35
23
Me know that you don't know what either sovereignty or freedom mean. May a suggest a dictionary....
04 February 2013, 19:03
15
so let me see if I can get this strait. They want to try the victim BEFORE they try the perpetraitor? that makes a lot of sense if you are M8. fits their logic quite well.
04 February 2013, 19:16
12
This prosecutor is a disgrace to his profession and an insult to everything Lebanon stands for. No doubt he owes his position to one of the mafia politician. But after all, all Lebanese will be harshly judged by history for allowing a criminal organization armed, funded and indoctrinated by a foreign country and the brutal Basij to take over Lebanon and mascarade as a genuine organization while along with its Faustain ally in Rabie is poisoning and destroying the inner foundation of our freedom and democracy.
04 February 2013, 23:45
11
why are you attacking boutros harb? Should you not support that those who attempted to kill him be brought to justice? If you really like a stable, peaceful lebanon you should call for justice for all and not support killers.
05 February 2013, 00:16
22
by reading your posts seems you don t know what civilised mean! LOL
05 February 2013, 04:08
22
God Bless Boutros the original vanilla MP of Batroun specifically and Christians generally. You exposed the idiots deeds because ALLAH loves you and you escaped their failure to execute and now they are trying again to shut your voice, when you were MP those who are claiming they understand politics and care about Lebanon were not even born.
Those deviating from the subject in hand, try to have one brain cell to deal with the root cause of the Lebanese issue, it's because of an exception of carrying arms that you see more and more arms killing our own citizens. Take the arms from the Palestinians, Hezb and the rest.
05 February 2013, 09:05
11
So now we go after The victim,
The perpetrator of the failed bombing attempt is a member of HA, was he acting under orders? I'm sure he didn't have a personal vendetta against Mr. Harb. Shouldn't HA be judged or is the resistance exempt because we need them in case we need to get rid of the UN forces occupying the whole length of our border with Israel. and I thought I heard it all
