Al-Mustaqbal Calls for Access to Telecom Data to Avert ‘Disasters’
Several al-Mustaqbal movement officials said on Monday that the security forces should have access to telecom data to avert any possible assassination attempt.
In remarks to Radio Orient, al-Mustaqbal movement politburo member Mustafa Alloush said: “Access to the telecom data averts many disasters.”
“We believe that if some people continue to retain the data, then they are involved in this,” he said about a report that an attempt to assassinate Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Col. Wissam al-Hassan has been thwarted.
Al-Hassan and ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi are backed by al-Mustaqbal and the larger March 14 coalition which has been accusing Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui of rejecting to provide the Intelligence Branch with data on phone calls.
Sehnaoui is loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who is Hizbullah’s ally. The minister is arguing that handing over all the data to security agencies is an infringement of civil liberties.
But MP Samir al-Jisr also defended the Intelligence Branch’s request for the telecom information, saying “wiretapping is different than asking for the data which only unveils numbers while wiretapping requires a judicial request because it goes into the details of the phone conversation.”
Another Mustaqbal bloc lawmaker, Moeen al-Merehbi, told Future News that Hizbullah owns the data and can spy on the phone calls in the entire country.
“We hold the March 8 group responsibility for any crime in Lebanon,” he said.
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