Our problem was with the two generals, the president and the minister of justice, and now a third person has gotten involved rather crudely: the new minister of information, Ramzi Jreij. The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) interviewed him yesterday to get his opinion on Ashraf Rifi’s referral of Al-Akhbar to the public prosecutor to take legal action against the newspaper.Jreij was asked about his opinion regarding Monday’s editorial titled “Lebanon Without a President.” Jreij, holding yesterday’s issue of Al-Akhbar, told LBC that Ibrahim al-Amin’s editorial contained insults against the president and his post, in reference to yesterday’s editorial – rather than the one from Monday. This is an error, so we will wait for the minister to clarify whether he was commenting on yesterday’s editorial, or whether there was an error in the editing of the report.
In reality, the minister of information seems to have missed the fact that Monday’s editorial was a political opinion about the contents of the president’s speech. It contained legitimate criticism of Michel Suleiman’s attitudes on what is a sensitive issue, that is, the Resistance. No matter what one has to say about some of the statements in the editorial, these express an opinion, and whoever wishes to understand them differently to provoke a confrontation, is free to do so.
Also, the minister of information, who is a legal expert, missed the fact that Tuesday’s editorial contained the equivalent of a “tip” to the public prosecutor, regarding counterfeiting perpetrated by the president when he was commander of the army, and accusations against the minister of justice over various irregularities.
In other words, does the minister of information, in his current capacity and as a legal expert, not know that he should go the judiciary and ask it to intervene to establish the truth? Here too, we did not know what the minister of information meant to say, or is the problem in the editing again?
In this regard, our position is clear; it says:
First: We at Al-Akhbar will not appear before the public prosecution until the president and the minister of justice are summoned to appear before the court to investigate all the accusations made against them. If some people believe that they have sufficient immunity to shield them from accountability or prosecution, then we give ourselves the right to be immune from being held accountable and prosecuted too.
The judiciary must act in order to prevent the political authorities from deciding what the press can publish; those type of decisions belong to the judiciary.
Second: Our position in rejection of any campaign targeting the Resistance against the occupation is irreversible. We will continue to question the patriotism and honor of anyone who assails the Resistance.
We will continue to criticize and expose all those who undertake political, media, or field actions against the Resistance. Will not wait for anybody’s approval, be it the political authorities, the judicial authorities, the security authorities, or the partisan authorities. Those who do not like this can take a hike!
Third: The silence of the press syndicate and the order of journalists over this frenzied campaign against the media by both the Court of Publications and the Ministry of Justice, could motivate the political authorities to press ahead in its battle to stifle opinions. However, these two unions only represent the persons of the members of their councils, and they no longer enjoy our confidence, until they wake up from their coma.
But what about the “tough guy” Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi, who tweeted from Saudi Arabia that the time for debauchery and insults is behind us, promising to build a state of institutions?
Rifi has been in Saudi Arabia for several days. His office leaked information that he would be attending a technical conference, and meeting with Saudi officials on the sidelines.
So far, there has been no official confirmation from his office or Saudi media that he has arrived in Saudi, taken part in any conference, or met with Saudi officials. So what is he doing there exactly?
Of course, we will not embarrass Rifi and wait for him to tell us what he learned about Saudi justice, or ask him about his meetings. We also will not embarrass him and ask him whether it was him personally who tweeted yesterday, or whether someone else in Beirut, before he took permission from Rifi, tweeted on his behalf, and whether Rifi approved only after the fact.
But let us consider the following account. And let him and Saudi Arabia say what they want to say.
Last Sunday and throughout the next day, there were extensive phone calls being made between Riyadh, Jeddah, and Beirut. Security officials in the kingdom were asking persistently whether reports are true that Hezbollah intends to carry out a military-security move that would encompass all of Lebanon, in a repeat of May 7, 2008.
Saudi officials even asked security officers in their embassy in Beirut and Lebanese counterparts to quickly verify this information. When they were told that there were no indications that something like this was going to happen, the callers from Riyadh stressed that the information they had came from a “well-informed source,” requesting further information.
Many hours passed before the Saudi officials were convinced that the reports were unfounded. But in Beirut, some were interested to find out who was this source that unnerved the kingdom for more than 24 hours.
It soon turned out that it was Rifi himself, boasting to the Saudi officials with his information, which, he claimed, indicated that “Hezbollah is in a state of hysteria, and is planning to take action against its opponents.” Of course, as one official in Beirut said, “We all know what else Rifi told the Saudi officials: Help us fight Hezbollah.”
Going to court? Yeah right.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.