Report: Another Citizenship Decree ‘Looming’

Another naturalization decree is reportedly “looming on the horizon,” the second during the term of President Michel Aoun, although the appeal against the first decree is still pending in the State Shura Council, media reports said on Tuesday.

The new decree, if enacted, would grant Lebanese citizenship to new individuals although the appeal against the previous decree, “secretly” signed by Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and former Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on May 11, 2018, remains subject to the Shura Council decision, added the sources.

In June last year, Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and Kataeb party chief Sami Gemayal called for the revocation of the edict describing it as “scandalous.”

Lebanese were fuming over the decree granting nationality to dozens of people, allegedly including Syrian investors close to the Damascus regime.

Critics have slammed the secrecy surrounding the move and say it adds insult to injury for thousands unable to acquire nationality because they were born to Lebanese mothers and foreign fathers.

Political discourse in Lebanon, a country of just four million, is deeply divided over the war in neighbouring Syria, with allegations of corruption on all sides.

The contested decree has brought all of that to the fore.

Lebanese media reported it may include as many as 300 people, including businessmen known to be close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.