Rifi Resumes Duties as Justice Minister, Albeit from Home
Resigned minister Ashraf Rifi has resumed his duties as justice minister by signing the ministry's mail and following up on its files, although without being present at the ministry building, media reports said on Tuesday.
“As of Monday, Minister Ashraf Rifi returned to his duties as justice minister, though from afar. His team is working at the ministry while he is signing mail and following up on files from his office in Ashrafieh,” LBCI television reported.
It quoted sources close to Rifi as saying that he is “still an incumbent minister who enjoys full jurisdiction and has a duty to perform his missions.”
“Rifi cannot accept to paralyze a vital public institution such as the judiciary and he cannot dodge his responsibilities,” the sources added, noting that the minister's return to his tasks “does not mean that he has decided to retract his resignation, which remains unofficial pending a decision from the relevant authority.”
LBCI pointed out that the role of acting justice minister Alice Shabtini stopped “the moment Rifi resumed his duties.”
Al-Jadeed television said Shabtini has signed several decrees and documents in her capacity as acting justice minister.
“Rifi has submitted his resignation to the prime minister in written form, but the acceptance of his resignation requires a decree signed by the president in addition to the PM's approval,” LBCI noted, quoting legal experts.
“As long as there is no president and as long as Prime Minister Tammam Salam has not issued a decree accepting the resignation,” Rifi remains the justice minister, the TV network added.
Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 and Salam's government has since been acting in caretaker capacity.
Rifi announced his resignation in a February 21 press conference, accusing Hizbullah of “dominating the government's decision.”
His resignation statement also cited alleged Hizbullah interference in the case of ex-minister Michel Samaha, who is facing charges of having planned "terrorist" acts in collaboration with the Syrian regime.
Rifi accused Hizbullah of blocking his efforts to transfer the case against Samaha, a former close confidante of Damascus, to Lebanon's highest court, the Judicial Council.
Samaha was freed on bail in January under a controversial Military Court ruling that sent shockwaves across Lebanon.
The ex-minister was arrested in August 2012 and charged with attempting to carry out "terrorist acts" over allegations that he and Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk transported explosives and planned attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon.
Samaha was sentenced in May 2015 to four-and-half years in prison, but in June Lebanon's Cassation Court nullified the verdict and ordered a retrial.
Y.R.
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