Now Lebanon - Maalouf: Sayyed’s conditions are tantamount to cancelling state institutions - September 19, 2010

Lebanese Forces bloc MP Joseph Maalouf said in an exclusive interview with NOW Lebanon that former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed’s demands are tantamount to cancelling the state institutions’ work, or at least limiting their roles.

During a press conference held Saturday at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport upon his return from Paris, Sayyed said that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and its pending indictment will not be trustworthy until several figures including Internal Security Forces (ISF) Director General Achraf Rifi, ISF-Information Branch head Wissam al-Hassan and Attorney General Judge Said Mirza are imprisoned in the Hague or Lebanon.

The MP also rejected Hezbollah’s Friday statement because it criticizes the judiciary, adding that summoning Sayyed is normal after the statements he issued.

Hezbollah’s Friday statement said that Mirza’s request to summon Sayyed was “political par excellence” and called on the judiciary to revoke the decision.

In a press conference last week, Sayyed warned Prime Minister Saad Hariri to “give me my right, [or] I swear on my honor that I [will] take it with my own hands.”

Sayyed was detained from 2005 to 2009 on suspicion of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri. In April 2009, the STL ordered his release due to lack of evidence.