Aoun Opposes Govt. Change: Saqr Must Be Put on Trial
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun rejected on Tuesday calls for a change in government and slammed the recent audio recordings revealing an arms deal being made between Mustaqbal MP Oqab Saqr and a member of the Syrian opposition.
He said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: “Saqr must be put on trial.”
“Saqr and his March 14 allies are boasting about providing arms to the Syrian rebels,” he added.
“They had the nerve to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in the past and they are now fighting them in Syria,” the MP remarked.
Syrian troops ended a nearly 30-year presence in Lebanon in 2005 in the wake of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
“The Syrians are our brothers. We hope that they will learn from the mistakes that were committed in Lebanon and resort to dialogue instead of violence,” stressed Aoun.
“I am not willing to support the consequences of Lebanese meddling in Syrian affairs,” he added.
Taped conversations of Saqr and Abou Nehman, a “leader in the armed Syrian opposition,” aired last week.
They revealed that the two were carrying out a weapons deal.
General Prosecutor Judge Hatem Madi tasked on Tuesday the Central Criminal Investigations Bureau with examining the audio recordings.
Addressing opposition demands for a change in government, Aoun said: “Should we resign from cabinet given the difficult situation in the country?”
“We have a hard time forming a new government during normal circumstances,” he stated.
Certain rules need to be followed to achieve the change, he explained.
Commenting on the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau demand for text messages exchanged between the Lebanese two months before the assassination of Bureau head Wissam al-Hasan, Aoun remarked: “The cabinet will not approve the demand.”
Concerned judicial authorities rejected the request and the cabinet will also reject it, he stressed.
“Cabinet cannot tolerate constitutional violations and we oppose meddling in the people's privacy,” he said.
Media reports said on Monday that the security agencies filed a request to obtain all the circulating text messages between the Lebanese that occurred two months before Hasan's murder.
He was killed in a massive car bomb in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district on October 19.
Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi and Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui have rejected the request, added Aoun.
Source: Naharnet
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