Berri Delaying Decision on Lifting off Merehbi Immunity

Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday that he hasn’t studied yet an official request to strip MP Moeen al-Merehbi of his parliamentary immunity as he was busy dealing with the emergency developments.

“I will do that as soon as possible,” Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The parliament's bureau, which is scheduled to hold a meeting on Wednesday, will not tackle the matter, the daily reported.

Lawmakers said that the parliament’s bureau will discuss the speaker’s request to hold a parliamentary session.

Parliamentary sources told al-Joumhouria that contacts are ongoing to smoothly handle the request of Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi to lift immunity off Merehbi.

Qortbawi’s request, last week, was made to parliament’s general secretariat and at the behest of the Army Command after it accused the MP of incitement against the army.

Merehbi has been locked in a war of words with the military institution ever since the shooting death in May of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed at an army checkpoint in Akkar.

“The speaker is waiting for the results of the ongoing contacts before taking a decision as it might have negative repercussions,” the sources said.

According to al-Liwaa newspaper, the speaker will hold on to the constitutional and legal norms before taking any decision and referring the request to the parliament's bureau and the administrative committee, which should hold a joint meeting to discuss the issue.

The March 14 alliance threatened to resort to article 39 of the constitution, which states that “no member of the Chamber may be prosecuted because of ideas and opinions expressed during the period of his mandate.”

However, article 40 states that “no member of the Chamber may, during the sessions, be prosecuted or arrested for a criminal offense without the permission of the Chamber, except when caught in the act.”