Deputy Parliament Speaker Elie Ferzli. (Credit: Ali Fawaz/Lebanese Parliament)
BEIRUT — Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli (Ind./W. Bekaa-Rashaya) said in a news conference that he is in favor of lifting all types of constitutional immunities for the politicians who have been called in for questioning in relation to the Beirut port explosion.
What we know:
• Ferzli said he would sign a constitutional amendment proposed yesterday by Saad Hariri (Future/West Beirut), the head of the Future Movement and a former prime minister, that would suspend “all legal articles” granting immunity to high-ranking government officials.
• Ferzli’s and Hariri’s maneuvering came after they and other MPs experienced backlash for signing a petition that called for the investigations and interrogations of government officials allegedly connected to the Beirut port explosion to be handled by a council that does not currently exist, rather than the judiciary.
• Judge Tarek Bitar, who is leading the blast probe, recently asked Parliament to lift immunity from former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil (Amal/Marjayoun-Hasbaya), Ghazi Zeaiter (Amal/Baalbeck-Hermel) and Nohad Machnouk (Ind./West Beirut), who as current MPs are afforded legal protection by the constitution. A parliamentary committee has not yet publicly announced a decision on the request.
• Bitar has also run up against red tape in his attempts to question the head of General Security, Abbas Ibrahim, and the director-general of State Security, Tony Saliba.
• Last week, Machnouk, who served as interior minister from 2014 to 2019, gave his account of information he possessed in relation to the hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate that detonated at the Beirut port in August. During a press conference, Machnouk presented a copy of what he claimed was “the only document” he said he received regarding the ship that had carried the ammonium nitrate shipment. Machnouk said the document had not indicated that the shipment would be unloaded at the Beirut port.
Correction: A previous version of this article attributed wrong political affiliations to MPs Elie Ferzli, Nohad Machnouk and Ali Hassan Khalil. The first two are now independent; Khalil is a member of the Amal Movement.