SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 11 December 2024, Wednesday |

Lebanon’s Berri is ready to lift immunity, quotes Jesus: “You will know truth, and truth will set you free”

Nabih Berri, Lebanon’s powerful Parliament Speaker, said on Thursday that the legislature was ready to lift its members’ immunity in order to interrogate them about last year’s port blast in Beirut.

Last August, a catastrophic explosion killed over 200 people, injured many more, and devastated large sections of the city. However, nearly a year later, no top authorities have been questioned about the tragedy, which has enraged many Lebanese.

“Complete cooperation with the judiciary was and will continue to be the goal of parliament,” Berri said in a statement following a meeting with the Future Movement, parliament’s major Sunni faction.

Veteran Sunni politician Saad al-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 parliament and the government to lift immunity and enable questioning of several top officials were either declined or stalled.

    Source:
  • Reuters
  • Sawt Beirut International