A controversial move made headlines earlier this week as Lebanese MPs attempted to gather as many signatures from their peers to request the formation of an investigative committee in parallel to that of Judge Tarek Bitar’s to investigate the Beirut Blast.
Worth noting that Judge Bitar is the official investigating judge on this high-profile case, appointed by the Higher Judicial Council to lead the investigation.
He took over from Judge Fadi Sawan who was removed after intense pressure from politicians, namely those he had summoned for questioning.
The recent attempt by dozens of MPs fell apart due to the lack of sufficient signatures. Some MPs refused to interfere with the course of justice and others began retracting their names from the petition when it was exposed to the public.
From the 50 or so parliamentarians who were involved in the petition, 24 MPs remain.
These 24 members of the parliament still insist on the Parliament’s right to form its own investigative committee to decide the fate of their peers and other political and security figures who have been indicted by Judge Bitar.
Some of these people have also refused to lift MPs’ immunities during the joint meeting between the Parliament Bureau and the Administration and Justice Committee.
The 24 MPs are:
#1 Yassine Jaber
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
#2 Michel Moussa
- Greek Catholic
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
- Head of the Parliamentary commission for Human Rights
#3 Walid Baarini
- Sunni
- Future Movement
- Lebanon First bloc
#4 Elie Ferzli
- Greek Orthodox
- Deputy Speaker of the Parliament
- Strong Lebanon bloc
#5 Bahia Hariri
- Sunni
- Future Movement
- Lebanon First bloc
#6 Ibrahim Moussawi
- Shia
- Hezbollah
- Loyalty to the Resistance bloc
#7 Mohamad Sleiman
- Sunni
- Future Movement
- Lebanon First bloc
#8 Mohammad Hajjar
- Sunni
- Future Movement
- Lebanon First bloc
#9 Mohamad Al-Khawaja
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
#10 Kassem Hachem
- Sunni
- Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party
- Development and Liberation bloc
#11 Fadi Alameh
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
#12 Ayoub Hmayed
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
#13 Albert Mansour
- Greek Catholic
- Syrian Social Nationalist Party
- Social Nationalist bloc
#14 Inaya Ezzedine
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
#15 Ali Osseiran
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
#16 Ali Khreis
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
#17 Ali Bazzi
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc
#18 Bakr Al-Hujairi
- Sunni
- Future Movement
- Lebanon First bloc
#19 Tarek Merhebi
- Sunni
- Future Movement
- Lebanon First bloc
#20 Hussein Jishi
- Shia
- Hezbollah
- Loyalty to the Resistance bloc
#21 Hassan Ezzedine
- Shia
- Hezbollah
- Loyalty to the Resistance bloc
#22 Othman Alameddine
- Sunni
- Future Movement
- Lebanon First bloc
#23 Ihab Hamadeh
- Shia
- Hezbollah
- Loyalty to the Resistance bloc
#24 Muhammad Nasrallah
- Shia
- Amal Movement
- Development and Liberation bloc