Oueidat Denies Rejecting Prosecution of Ibrahim and Saliba

State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat on Thursday denied that he has rejected to grant Judge Tarek Bitar permissions for the prosecution of State Security chief Tony Saliba and General Security head Abbas Ibrahim in the port blast case.

In a statement, Oueidat’s office said that he “has not taken a decision regarding any request related to the port case ever since he recused himself,” describing the reports in this regard as “baseless and malicious.”

The office also noted that the jurisdiction to look into the permissions for the prosecution of Saliba and Ibrahim does not belong to the public prosecution but rather to “the Higher Defense Council and the Minister of Interior.”

The reports had claimed that Oueidat had informed Bitar in an “official memo” of his rejection to grant the permissions.