Judiciary Refuses to Hand over Complete Telecom Data to ISF on Geagea Probe
A competent judicial authority refused to provide the Internal Security Forces with the complete telecom data to continue their probe into the assassination attempt on Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.
An Nahar newspaper said that the judicial authority which is tasked with assessing the possibility of providing the security forces with the telecom data includes Head of the Audit Bureau Judge Aouni Ramadan, Head of the Shura Council Shukri Sader and first president of the Court of Cassation Judge Hatem Madi.
Telecommunication Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui denied to al-Joumhouria newspaper that his ministry is blocking the security authorities from obtaining the telecom data.
“The ministry receives monthly around 300 applications by the security forces (The General Security, the Internal Security Forces, the State Security and the Army) and we approve their requests,” Sehnaoui told the daily.
However, he noted that providing the security authorities with “all the data” requires the approval of the competent judiciary authority.
The dispute on telecom data emerged to the surface after Geagea escaped an assassination attempt last week.
Sehnaoui revealed that the judicial authority failed to approve in March the requests to provide the security forces with all the data.
He stressed that the telecom ministry has to “provide the security authorities with all the required help in order to track down criminals and terrorists to maintain stability and security” in Lebanon.
Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned during its weekly meeting on Tuesday the “ongoing telecom data scandal,” urging the cabinet to end this dispute through enabling the security authorities to constantly be granted access to the data.”
However, Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun lashed out at the March 14 forces for accusing Sehnaoui of preventing the ISF from obtaining the telecom data.
“There is a legal process that needs to be followed…The committee of judges is concerned with this issue and not the minister,” he said during the block’s weekly meeting.
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