Rifi Says Hariri Support of Aoun would be 'Another Strategic Mistake'

Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi warned Wednesday that ex-PM Saad Hariri would be committing "another strategic mistake" if he endorses Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun for the presidency.

“How can ex-PM Hariri hand over the country to a figure linked to the Iranian project? Aoun has endorsed the Iranian project since 2005 and we don't trust the promises he launched yesterday,” Rifi said in an interview on MTV.

He also slammed Hariri's declared presidential candidate, Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh, as a “copy” of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Rifi also said that Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and Hariri's advisers Ghattas Khoury and Nader Hariri are to blame for the ex-PM's “deviation from the principles” of the March 14 coalition.

Turning to the issue of the so-called package deal that Speaker Nabih Berri has proposed, the minister saluted Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi for his rejection of the suggestion.

“I salute Patriarch al-Rahi and the call of the Maronite bishops seeing as we cannot accept the package deal that is a veiled attempt to pounce on coexistence and our rights as citizens,” he said.

“The package deal encroaches on the jurisdiction of the president and the premier and we will not endorse the system of Iran's supreme guide,” Rifi warned.

Separately, the resigned minister announced that he does not have a regional “financial supporter.”

Rifi, who for several years was loyal to Hariri's al-Mustaqbal Movement, has repeatedly criticized the ex-PM's decision to endorse Franjieh for the presidency, and in May he backed an electoral list in Tripoli's municipal polls that managed to achieve a stunning victory against a list backed by Hariri, ex-PM Najib Miqati, ex-ministers Mohammed Safadi and Faisal Karami, Jamaa Islamiya, Ahbash and the Arab Democratic Party.

The justice minister has been accused of resorting to “sectarian incitement” and to the continued use of the assassinations that targeted March 14 figures in his political rhetoric.

“He should stop involving the name of Rafik Hariri in his political rhetoric and should stop attacking the Hariris in the name of Rafik Hariri,” Saad Hariri said in a speech in June.

“To all those who suddenly became experts in Rafik Hariri, Harirism and its principles, a small reminder: Every time Rafik Hariri was asked about the most important thing in the world, he answered: Honesty! And what is the basis of honesty? Loyalty,” Hariri added.