Lebanon's State Shura Council on Tuesday temporarily suspended a decision by the country's interior minister that LGBTQ+ groups had described as “homophobic.” (Credit: Raul Arboleda/AFP/AFP via Getty Images)
Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up.
Lebanon’s much-delayed 2022 budget went into effect yesterday following its publication in the Official Gazette more than seven weeks after receiving Parliament approval and with only six weeks left in the year to which it applies. The budget adopts an exchange rate of LL15,000 to the dollar, a tenfold increase of the longstanding former official rate, while the parallel market rate hovers around LL40,000. “It is a budget that is particularly poor in reforms and unfair to taxpayers since it increases many indirect taxes [such as notarial fees or taxes on certain imports], which are skyrocketing,” tax lawyer Karim Daher said. Among the tax levies introduced in the budget is a customs duty on some imported goods aiming to increase the competitiveness of Lebanese products. The total spending projected in the text is LL40.87 trillion, overshooting revenues by LL10.89 trillion. A twelfth of the total spending could become the government’s monthly allotted budget next year if the 2023 budget is also delayed. Passing credible budgets and unifying the lira-to-dollar exchange rate are also prerequisites to realizing a multibillion dollar aid agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
Queer rights NGO Helem announced that the State Shura Council temporarily suspended a “homophobic decision” by caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, strengthening “the legal position of LGBTQ+ people in Lebanon.” Beirut-based nonprofit research and advocacy organization Legal Agenda explained the decision, saying, “Security services can no longer rely on the minister's decision to ban meetings, rallies, or conferences on gay issues or to restrict the work of organizations that advocate for gay rights." Helem specifies that this is a "temporary decision until the State Shura Council makes its final decision." Both Legal Agenda and Helem filed a complaint at the State Shura Council in June challenging Mawlawi’s ban on LGBTQ+ gatherings. Helem director Tarek Zeidan, while “very happy” about the council’s decision, added that LGBTQ+ people "still need to remain vigilant, continue to fight [and] refuse to be used as scapegoats.”
"Our goal is not only to agree on one name but to bring points of view closer to each other,” Forces of Change MP Mark Daou said yesterday after opposition MPs met to discuss the presidential elections. The meeting grouped together Forces of Change, Kataeb, Renewal group, National Coalition and Watan al-Insan MPs, as well as independents, in the hopes of “breaking the wall of obstruction” and ending the presidential vacuum — now in its third week since the end of Michel Aoun’s term. Parliament is scheduled to convene for a sixth presidential election session Thursday — the second in what Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said would be weekly attempts to name Aoun’s successor after the end of his term on Oct. 31. Previous voting rounds resulted in a majority of MPs casting protest votes: either blank or canceled ballots or votes for unlikely candidates. The only apparent candidate, Renewal bloc leader MP Michel Moawad, received more than 40 votes. Hezbollah bloc head Mohammad Raad on Sunday announced the party — which, along with the Free Patriotic Movement and their allies, has consistently cast blank votes — had chosen a candidate and was working to “ensure” this individual accedes to the presidency. Raad yesterday reiterated party head Hassan Nasrallah’s preference for a candidate loyal to Hezbollah. In a statement following their meeting, the opposition MPs announced further meetings would be held while warning of “the danger of diving into legislative sessions.” Last week, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Parliament, amid a complete executive vacuum, could have an enlarged role in implementing International Monetary Fund stipulated reforms conditional to unlocking a multibillion-dollar aid package.
Security forces yesterday recaptured another of the 30 inmates who escaped from the Adlieh detention center in August. Lebanese Army Intelligence services arrested an alleged drug trafficker, thief and bank robber in Burj el-Barajneh. The suspect, along with 29 others, absconded from the Beirut courthouse detention center in August using a smuggled tool. The army arrested another escapee earlier this month who reportedly had stolen 47 motorcycles since his breakout. Jailbreaking has proliferated over the past months as Lebanon’s economic crisis worsens inmates’ already-dire detention conditions. The Lebanese Committee for the Prevention of Torture in a May report singled-out the courthouse detention center as particularly “horrific,” noting that some inmates had developed skin diseases after months without exposure to sunlight.
In case you missed it, here's our must-read story from yesterday: “The residents who said no to the ‘generator mafia’”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
Humanitarian convoy reaches Rmeish, Ain Ibl, Dibil despite obstacles
