Druze Leaders Trade Jabs on Choueifat, Jahliyeh Deadly Incidents
Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat, Lebanese Democratic Party chief MP Talal Arslan and Arab Tawhid Party head ex-minister Wiam Wahhab on Wednesday traded jabs over the Choueifat and Jahliyeh deadly incidents.
“It seems that the Great Satan is interfering in the investigations in the case of the martyr Mohammed Abu Diab, seeing as all evidence has disappeared as if by magic, the same as the Smaller Satan interfered in the case of the martyr Alaa Abu Faraj and the suspect Amin al-Souqi is now in the protection of (senior Syrian general) Maher al-Assad,” Jumblat tweeted.
“One must interpret the message through its title, but we are very patient and we've been through harder days but we remained resilient,” Jumblat added.
Wahhab's bodyguard Abu Diab was killed during an Internal Security Forces raid in Jahliyeh that escalated into an armed confrontation with the ex-minister's supporters. Wahhab and the ISF have traded blame over the source of the gunfire that killed the bodyguard.
Abu Faraj, a Jumblat supporter, was meanwhile killed in armed clashes with Arslan's supporters in the wake of the May 2018 parliamentary elections.
“Walid Beik, I urge you not to interfere in the probe into the assassination of Mohammed Abu Diab. The evidence exhibits that are in the possession of the Military Court's judge are clear, so we call on you to stop the disinformation. This issue will reach its end and we will try the killer and this is what I said today to a top leader,” Wahhab tweeted.
Arslan had earlier in the day testified before a Mount Lebanon judge in the case of the Choueifat incident after which he announced that he would file a lawsuit against those who tried to “kill” him in “the attack on the Arslan mansion in Choueifat.”
Asked whether he will hand over al-Souqi to the judiciary, Arslan said: “Amin al-Souqi and others are innocent until proven guilty... The PSP and its members attacked my house and office in the Arslan mansion in Choueifat in an attempt to kill me, but I consider them all innocent until proven guilty, so it is shameful to launch political accusations against Amin al-Souqi and the young men without evidence, witnesses or videos.”
He added: “If Walid Jumblat wants the judiciary, this is excellent, and Talal Arslan also wants the judiciary, on the condition that we both abide by the judiciary in a non-selective way. You can't call for the judiciary to intervene against Amin al-Souqi but not against (MP) Akram Shehayyeb. This will not happen. I openly say it: we will not allow anyone to hide behind their parliamentary immunity, seeing as to me, Amin al-Souqi is equivalent to ten MPs.”
Source: Naharnet
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