| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Half-plus-one vote gathers momentum after election delay |
| 2007-12-12 |
| Hours after a parliamentary session to elect a new president was put off again for an eighth time, leaders of the ruling March 14 coalition hinted at resorting to elections by a majority vote of half-plus-one. According to political analysts the half-plus-one vote gathered momentum immediately following the announcement by Berri's office which stating that the presidential elections were delayed till next Monday, Dec. 17. MP Wael Abu Faour said after meeting Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir Turesday morning: "We do not rule out any possibility, be it elections by a majority vote of half-plus-one or not." Abu Faour was part of a delegation dispatched by Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt . The delegation included Jumblatt's closest ally Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh. Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat also told the Voice of Lebanon radio station on Tuesday that March 14 "did not at all abandon the half-plus-one option. This is a constitutional alternative." Similarly , former MP Fares Said, a prominent member of the March 14 ruling majority urged his colleagues to go ahead and elect army General Michel Suleiman as the next president based on the half plus one quorum . He recommended the coordination of this action with Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. Said blamed the delay on Iran and Syria who according to him "want to burn Lebanon" MP Saad Hariri also did not rule out the possibility that March 14 might resort to elections by a majority vote of half-plus-one. |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Another Witness Testifies with Perjury into Assassination of Hariri | ||
| 2006-01-18 | ||
Jarjoura told Lebanese satellite NEW TV channel in an interview overnight that some Lebanese figures, particularly Deputy and Minister Marwan Hamada, forced him, in return to some promises, to retell the fabricated story to the international probe and the Lebanese Attorney Said Mirza as well as Bahiya Hariri, sister of the slain Hariri. He said he is a Syrian national of Lebanese mother, adding he went to Lebanon to work and before that he looked for a job in Egypt, Iraq and Oman. He went back to Lebanon 14 days before late Hariri was assassinated with a Lebanese passport where he stayed there for six months at his grandfather house. The witness said the Lebanese military detained him at an army checkpoint six months after the expiry of his residence in Lebanon as written in the passport. After that, he was taken to prison where all his former inmates were released except him. He added that three days later he was taken the Interrogation Department in Beirut where they told him he was working for the Syrian state security intelligence, and asked him if he had any information about the assassination of Hariri. He said he denied having any information on the issue, but despite that he was left to an assistant in the interrogation called Mohammad or Ahmad, to blackmail him. Jarjoura said he was set free three days later, but a man called Wisam contacted him. This man turned out to be an intelligence agent and a bodyguard of Marwan Hamada as he took him to Hamadaâs house. He added that he was taken several times to Information and Interrogation security offices in Beirut, and finally he met Marwan Hamada in his house and was inspected by Wisam himself. The witness said he told Hamada that he knew nothing and he wanted no money or anything else, but Hamada hit kicked and swore him badly and told his bodyguards to coerce him into assisting them to fabricate the story about the assassination of Hariri and implicate Syria.
Jarjoura said they forced to add other names to the alleged list he was monitoring, including Saâad al-hariri, Walid Jumblatt, Marwan Hamada, Jebran Tueni, Samir Qassir, Layla Muawad, Elias Atallah, Fares Said, Boutross Harb and Samir franjieh. They also asked him to say that Syrian Gen. Hassan Khalil and Gen. Hassan Khallouf gave him these names by means of Brigadier Gen. Suheil Barakat of Palestine security branch. He added that last time he gave his registered testimony before the investigation committee was in the presence of a Lebanese woman translator, saying they showed him the photo of President Bashar al-Assad, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister. Later they showed him the photo of Gen. Assef Shawkat and the four other detainees in Montverde but he didnât recognize them. Jarjoura said he was sadly forced into a perjury by swearing the Bible for the first time in his life, adding he is repentant to do so. He pointed out that â I have more important things than his current testimony and would only disclose them to my government in Syria âŠ.I will not sell my country off âŠ.I received no money from anybodyâŠand I was not sentenced in LebanonâŠand all the false information came from Marwan hamada.â The witness said he sought several times to escape but couldnât. | ||
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