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Wiretapping center to be ready by April – Team Convenes
Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud announced on Tuesday that a center specializing in wiretapping would be completed by April 2009. Baroud cautioned that any wiretapping conducted within the current intermediary period and outside the jurisdiction of the developing center would be considered an illegal and prosecutable breach of Law 140.
Law 140 protects the privacy of individuals in using the official telecommunications network.
Baroud said that wiretapping should not be considered an infringement of citizens” civil liberties, but rather a security measure carried out within the national interest and practically applied in accordance with the law.
MP Ali Bazzi of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri”s parliamentary bloc told The Daily Star on Tuesday that a parliamentary investigative committee centered on the issue of wiretapping will soon be formed.
This development comes on the heels of a meeting which took place on Monday, grouping Berri with head of Parliament”s Telecommunications Committee, MP Hassan Fadlallah, and other officials.
"We are in the early stages of forming this committee right now. We have Law 140. And we have the practical decrees, we want to see the effective application of this law" Bazzi said.
Spurred by Fadlallah, the Telecommunications Committee will convene on Thursday to further debate the terms of a regulatory body on the issue of wiretapping. "Thursday”s meeting will be based on collecting and bringing together the facts that have been presented … and determining the best possible outcome to move forward," Bazzi said.
Ministerial sources also said on Tuesday that the idea of launching a specialist center was the direct result of a round of heated negotiations among ministers, judicial and security personnel at the Grand Serail on Monday. The session was headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The sources added that the Grand Serail meeting had focused on the regulatory safeguards necessary to enable the fair enforcement of Law 140.
These latest developments came in line with Defense Minister Elias Murr”s announcement on Monday that a consensus had been reached during the meeting that wiretapping would be subject to specific laws and procedures.
In a related development, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar told Future News television on Tuesday that any wiretapping activity would require prior administrative or judicial approval.
"If in some cases wiretapping was needed for security reasons, then it should be allowed, but only after an administrative or judicial approval is given," he said.
Najjar added that there was a concrete agreement to establish a room in the Telecommunications Ministry to facilitate wiretapping operations for security reasons.
Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt called for the dismissal of a security officer currently posted at the Telecommunications Ministry, despite earlier assurances by Defense Minister Murr.
During a news conference on Monday, Murr said that the security officer was appointed by him for the sole purpose of intercepting illegal international phone calls.
Jumblatt told local daily Ad-Diyar that while Monday”s meeting had a positive outcome, a cloud of speculation still hangs over the Telecommunications Ministry.
Nahernet
Interior Minister Ziad Baroud on Tuesday presided over a meeting by experts entrusted with the task of intercepting communications in line with safeguarding national security.
Maj. Sami Nassif represented the interior ministry, Maj. Tony Qahwaji represented the defense ministry and communications engineer Tony Hanna represented the ministry of telecommunications.
The meeting is the first by the team tasked with setting up and operating the communications interception center that would carry out the mission upon administrative or judicial instructions.