The Beirut Bar Association has granted its permission to prosecute MPs and former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaiter, who have been charged in relation to the Beirut explosion.
With that, the two officials have lost their immunity as lawyers.
The association said in a statement that it made the decision after confirming that the request to lift Khalil’s and Zaiter’s immunity was unrelated to their profession as lawyers but to their political role as former ministers.
However, for them to be prosecuted, Khalil and Zaiter would still have to lose their immunity as MPs first.
Judge Tarek Bitar, who is leading the probe into the Beirut explosion, has requested that the two officials’ immunity be waived, along with that of MP Nohad Machnouk, General Security Director-General Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, and State Security Director-General Maj. Gen. Tony Saliba.
At the Lebanese Parliament, MPs recently sparked outrage when they attempted to form an investigative committee to investigate the Beirut blast instead of agreeing to lift the immunity of their peers.
On Wednesday, former PM-designate Saad Hariri proposed the suspension of all constitutional and legal articles that grant immunity to officials, judges, and lawyers in Lebanon.
