Lebanonese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said Monday that the army’s honor was at stake if it failed to punish those responsible for last month's violent crackdown on a demonstration against the arrests of anti-Syrian Christians.
More than 200 activists were arrested by army intelligence services early last month, triggering criticism that Lebanon was turning into a "police state."
But most were later freed, some without charge, though around 75 were bailed out pending trial before the military court.
Despite the conciliatory mood that has prevailed since last week following the recent disputes, opposition demands for the punishment of security personnel who roughed up demonstrators on August 9 have not faded, reported the Daily Star on Tuesday.
On Monday, Justice Minister Samir Jisr added his voice to those calling for the prosecution of the plainclothes agents, saying in a statement that discipline from within the military establishment was too lax.
Jumblatt made his comments after visiting National Bloc officials, including party leader Carlos Edde.
“They say that the army’s honor prevents (it from being) held accountable. For the sake of the army’s honor, and its credibility, so that this army can be embraced by all of the people, there shouldn’t be any problem with accountability,” the Chouf MP said.
“In the most democratic countries in the world, there is accountability, and even the most backward ones as well. Argentina used to be considered a dictatorship, but its army carried out a democratic, voluntary process of accountability.”
Defense Minister Khalil Hrawi said Sunday that the army would not make public the administrative measures it took against those responsible for the crackdown on the Adlieh protest, the paper added.
But Jumblatt called for at least “the minimum” level of accountability, because the incident presented an “ugly image of civilized, democratic Lebanon.
“There were the pictures of army elements attacking the Lebanese people,” he said. “I hope there will be people held accountable. If they don’t want this, what can we do?”
Jumblatt said his discussions with Edde focused on defending freedoms, achieving administrative decentralization and seeking to the creation of a sound parliamentary election law.
“We also discussed the country’s need for a modern election law,” he said, “especially since we saw how the antiquated law led to a huge setback in Parliament, which took place (last month) when it approved the Criminal Procedures Law.”
Last month, Premier Rafiq Hariri and ministers acknowledged that Parliament passed amendments to the law for explicitly “political” reasons after President Emile Lahoud backed the unpopular changes.
Jumblatt dismissed the idea that a challenge to the law submitted by 28 MPs over the weekend would increase tensions, said the paper.
“It’s our right to appeal with the Constitutional Council,” Jumblatt said. “We hope that this council will be above everybody’s interests.”
Asked whether Parliament would be able to recover from last month’s events, Jumblatt said: “I don’t know. This the duty of Speaker Nabih Berri and others. I don’t have a suggestion. We did what we could by submitting the challenge, and if it is approved, Parliament’s dignity might be regained.
“The entire Lebanese people saw how a given deputy voted a certain way, and then 10 days later voted a different way,” he said. “We had to submit a challenge, because there was a constitutional violation.”
“If Berri believes that the legislature wasn’t ‘challenged,’” he added, “I say that it was, along with the country’s institutions.”
In a related development, Lebanon's Court of Cassation court ruled Monday that the military could not try some 60 anti-Syrian Christians arrested in an army crackdown last month, a judicial source told AFP.
The court, whose rulings cannot be appealed, ordered that the activists be referred to civilian courts, except "those accused of harming the reputation of the Lebanese and Syrian armies and those accused of showing violence to security agents," the source said.
The defendants' lawyers appealed to the higher court, which accepted Monday the case of some 60 accused of illegal political activities to be referred to civilian courts.
Five activists, who are still detained, face trial by the military tribunal for "contacts with the enemy Israel" and could be given the death penalty – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
