Someone called the Security Forces’ emergency number 112 to report the whereabouts of two ex-ministers who have been evading questioning, and have arrest warrants issued against them.
In normal circumstances, these individuals are deemed wanted by the law.
The Lebanese, acting as a good citizen, deemed it his duty to report them, as in normal circumstances.
But there is nothing normal in Lebanon when those wanted for questioning are politicians or officials, as in this situation involving the two ex-ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Youssef Fenianos.
Both ex-ministers were summoned by Judge Tarek Bitar for questioning over the Beirut Blast, and both have refused to attend.
Instead, they are carrying on with their lives as normal, indifferent to the arrest warrants issued against them for failing to appear for questioning
In the video that has started circulating online, the law-abiding citizen made two calls in that regard. He is heard asking the security forces to go arrest them.
In response, the officer on the other side of the line took his call as a joke, telling him sarcastically, “We will send a patrol” and “I’ll tell the guys to see what to do.”
The video is garnering a mix of humor and bitterness from the Lebanese public, which is totally aware that the authorities won’t do their job in that regard.
The people know all-too-well that Lebanese officials belonging to political parties are untouchable, not by law but by a dysfunctional system dictated by internal pressure and wasta.
Judge Bitar has summoned other previous members of the government for questioning, all of them have neither showed up, so far.
Among these Ministers is Nouhad Al-Mashnouk, who filed a lawsuit against Judge Bitar in response, and got his lawsuit rejected by the court. The same occurred with Ali Hassan Khalil.
It has been over a year since the mass murder by the Beirut Blast, which was caused by those in charge of the country, whether by neglect or otherwise, and none of them have been brought to justice.
On Thursday, political partisans even protested against Judge Bitar, some even calling him a spy on social media, for wanting to question Ali Hassan Khalil; a protest that turned bloody at its start.
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