Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi Sunday announced his resignation from the Cabinet, after what he said were unacceptable practices being carried out by Hezbollah's statelet and its allies.
"Today, I tell the Lebanese that the practices carried out by Hezbollah and its allies are unacceptable, and continuing in this Cabinet would mean the approval of such practices, or at least the inability to face them... Either way, I reject both cases," Rifi said in a statement, adding that Hezbollah was placing Lebanon's sovereignty, economy and its ties with Arab states in the "worst dangers."
Rifi criticized the Cabinet's failure in finding a solution to the seven-month trash crisis. He went on to slam Hezbollah for "obstructing" the referal of Michel Samaha's case to the Judicial Council.
Samaha, a former minister, was released on bail last month after being convicted of a terror plot in 2015. His trial is still ongoing. Rifi had pushed for the transferal of Samaha's case to the Judicial Council and gave to Cabinet a draft law to minimize the prerogatives of the Military Court, which saw Samaha released from custody.
After failing to do so, Rifi in a recent press conference said that he would transfer the case to Canada's judiciary, as Samaha is also a Canadian citizen. The minister previously vowed to boycott Cabinet sessions if the issue was not discussed.
"What happened in the Samaha case was a national crime, and Hezbollah is the only one to hold responsible, as it covered the murderer and turned him into a saint... There is an armed party which has hegemony over the Cabinet's decisions and turns it into a dead body whenever it has the benefit of doing so," Rifi continued, vowing to continue with his case until the end.
Rifi then hit at Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil after the latter "dared to offend Saudi Arabia per Hezbollah's request, and voted against the Arab consensus."
"From my national position and as a Lebanese citizen, I outright reject such an offence, and I ask the Cabinet to make an official apology to the Kingdom and its people, and more so I call for its resignation, before it completely becomes a tool in the hands of Hezbollah."
Bassil in January refused to endorse an Arab Summit statement which labeled Iran as a meddler in Arab affairs and classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
The summit, which took place in Cairo and was followed by a similar meeting in Jeddah, came in the wake of tense Iranian-Saudi relations. The attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad was in response to Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Bassil defended his stance by saying that he could not agree to classifying a Lebanese party as a terrorist group, angering Lebanon's pro-Saudi March 14 camp.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has also criticized Saudi Arabia and Bahrain's ruling parties, accusing the former of supporting terrorist organizations in the region and killing civilians in its war on Yemen, and the latter of crushing peaceful protests.
He said that his involvement in the Cabinet was not for the sake of participating, but rather a way for him to express his willingness to serve his nation and his people.
“We wanted this Cabinet to manage the conflict (between March 8 and March 14) so as not to enter a full vacuum (amidst the presidential and Parliamentary voids). However they (Hezbollah) wanted to implement their destructive plan... we wanted this Cabinet to prevent an economic collapse and save what is left (of the economy), but they deprived the people of any hopes in reviving the economic situation, thus leading to deterioration in all the vital sectors,” he added in his scathing remarks against his rival party.
Minister of the Displaced Alice Chabtini was appointed as Acting Justice Minister to replace Rifi, a Cabinet source told The Daily Star.
