BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Cabinet Thursday referred the case of a Christian couple murdered by fugitives from the Jaafar clan in eastern Lebanon last year to the Judicial Council.
Unlike last week, when a session was marred by a dispute between Future and Hezbollah ministers, Thursday’s meeting did not witness any heated arguments.
Referring the crime to the Judicial Council signifies that the November killing of Nadimeh and Sobhi Fakhri in the eastern village of Btedaai was considered a crime against state security. Verdicts by the Judicial Council cannot be appealed.
Members of the Shiite Jaafar clan who were being pursued by the Lebanese security forces entered the Fakhri family home in mid-November and shot the couple dead.
Prior to making a final decision, conflicting points of view emerged among ministers over the issue and whether it was a sectarian killing which jeopardized civil peace or simply a normal crime whose perpetrators happened to be from different sects.
The Jaafar clan has apologized for the killings, which threatened to ignite sectarian tensions in the Bekaa Valley. But the family has refused to hand over the shooters.
One member of the clan suspected of involvement in the murders was shot dead by the Army last month. Other suspects remain at large.
The Cabinet decision was announced after the end of its weekly meeting Thursday by Information Minister Ramzi Joreige.
Joreige also said the Cabinet approved a donation to the Defense Ministry, a tourism-related agreement with Tunisia and the renewal of an EU-funded garbage collection project for municipalities.
The Cabinet also agreed to return land to the southern town of Bint Jbeil’s municipality after it was handed to the Education Ministry to build a public school.
Other minor decisions included approving funds for the continuation of a project to rehabilitate the road between Kfar Roummane and Marjayoun in the south, and requesting a budget plan from the Public Works and Transportation Ministry.
Joreige said the ministers did not discuss the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen that was launched Thursday and dominated international headlines.
“We only discussed the preset agenda in the session, and we have full confidence in the prime minister, who will take the necessary stand toward this dangerous issue,” Joreige said.
He added that Prime Minister Tammam Salam would announce Lebanon’s position on the Yemen crisis during his participation in an Arab summit in Egypt this weekend.
When asked about their stance regarding events in Yemen, some ministers quipped, “But what happened in Yemen?”
Separately, Walid Jumblatt’s Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc announced Thursday that it backed what it called “necessary legislating.”
A statement released after the bloc’s meeting at Jumblatt’s residence on Clemenceau called for the swift election of a president, saying this would lead to constitutional institutions resume functioning normally.
“But while this goal could not be achieved [now], the bloc supports necessary legislating according to an agreement reached between political factions,” the statement said.
It said this would facilitate the endorsement of a number of necessary draft laws and at the same time preserve the Constitution.
While all factions have expressed their support for “necessary legislating” only during presidential vacuum, they have yet to agree on draft laws which fall under this category.
Speaker Nabih Berri Tuesday distributed a preliminary agenda for an upcoming legislative session to members of Parliament’s Secretariat who are discussing it with their blocs.
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