Conflicting reports emerged Saturday on whether Lebanese Najib Miqati’s government will convene next week following Information Minister George Kordahi's resignation on Friday.
Unnamed sources told Kuwait’s Al-Anbaa newspaper that the standoff over Judge Tarek Bitar’s probe into the Beirut port blast will be defused through partitioning the case and referring the accused ex-PM and former ministers to the Higher Council for Trial of Presidents and Ministers. The sources added that this would be the second part of a bargain that started with Kordahi’s resignation.
George Kordahi is the 1st to #GiveLebanonabreak pic.twitter.com/VVasvdDrM5
— Charbel Moussa (@cmoussa81) December 3, 2021
“The second phase begins with the convention of Cabinet in the presence of the ministers of Hizbullah and the Amal Movement, which will likely happen on Friday,” al-Anbaa quoted informed sources as saying.
Al-Joumhouria newspaper meanwhile reported that no “appropriate solution” has yet been reached despite the intensification of contacts.
It, however, added that “a new attempt is seeking to revive the first initiative of the Justice Minister, which had called for forming a judicial committee tasked with laying out the foundations on which the trial of presidents and ministers should be based.”
#Lebanon’s beleaguered information minister George Kordahi has resigned after weeks of diplomatic turmoil with Saudi Arabia over comments he made criticising its role in the Yemen war.
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 3, 2021
Here’s what you need to know#جورج_قرداحي pic.twitter.com/XeD7p3zHAF
Cabinet has not convened since October 14, when a political crisis erupted over Bitar’s investigations, with Hizbullah and Amal demanding that a decision be taken in Cabinet to remove him over alleged bias. President Michel Aoun’s camp and other parties had meanwhile voiced their rejection of political interference in the judiciary.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
