Hariri: We suggest suspending all legal articles that provide immunities to Presidents, Premiers, Mps, Ministers, and even Lawyers

27 Jul 2021

(See Translation in Arabic Section)

Lebanon - Prime Minister Saad Hariri said during a press conference he held at Beit al-Wasat, in which he dealt with the file of the Beirut Port explosion, "I am the son of a martyr, and I know what loss is."

"The Lebanese have the right to know who brought the nitrate into the port, and who was behind the disaster," he said, pointing out that "the Future Bloc did not put forth the provisions of the Constitution that protect MPs and officials through immunity."

"Claiming that the Future Bloc has abandoned the petition and that our deputies have signed a parliamentary petition not to prosecute the accused is the height of slander and lies. Today we refute all these accusations and demand equality before the judiciary," Hariri went on.

"The texts are not a point of view, nor are the Constitution and the laws in force. So let immunities drop from everyone, and whoever is proven guilty will be tried, myself included. (…) We have submitted today a proposal to lift immunities off everyone, and we formed a Parliamentary committee that will meet with all the blocs and ask them to sign our proposal to suspend all immunity clauses, because nothing is more important than the truth. The political forces, under such circumstances, must take exceptional decisions, and we suggest suspending all legal articles that provide immunities to Presidents of the Republic, Prime Ministers, MPs, ministers, and even lawyers.