Following a meeting with the Future Movement on Thursday, Berri said legislature was ready to lift the immunity of MPS to allow for questioning over last year’s port blast in the capital of Beirut. (Credit: Hassan Ibrahim/Lebanese Parliament)
BEIRUT — Parliament speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that the legislature was ready to lift the immunity of its members to allow for questioning over last year’s port blast in the capital of Beirut.
The massive explosion last August killed more than 200 people, injured thousands and destroyed large parts of the city. Nearly a year later, however, no top officials have been questioned over the disaster, angering many Lebanese.
“The priority of Parliament was and will continue to be complete cooperation with the judiciary,” Berri said in a statement after a meeting with the Future Movement, Parliament’s main Sunni bloc.
Veteran Sunni politician Saad Hariri, who heads the party, had called for lawmakers’ immunity to be lifted earlier this week by suspending all constitutional and legal regulations that allow for it.
Berri did not say when immunity would be lifted or how.
A probe into the port blast led by Judge Tarek Bitar has been hindered over the past month, as requests sent to Parliament and the government to lift immunity and enable questioning of several top officials were either declined or stalled.
speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that the legislature was ready
to lift the immunity of its members to allow for
questioning over last year’s port blast in the capital of Beirut.
The massive explosion last August killed more than 200 people,
injured thousands and destroyed large parts of the city. Nearly
a year later, however, no top...