Shibani for Setting Up Non-Judicial Committee to Follow Up On Issue of Missing Iranians
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said he sympathized with the families of the four Iranian diplomats, who were kidnapped in Lebanon during the civil war, and understood that they were aching for the truth, and should no longer endure “all the false information and rumors.”
After receiving Iranian ambassador Mohammed Riza Shibani on Wednesday, Najjar said, “We all know that Lebanon witnessed the assassinations of several ambassadors and the murder of innocent people during that period [civil war] during which Lebanese state institutions were nearly absent.”
He said he found it odd that the file was never referred to the Lebanese judiciary.
He said that the meeting resulted in a clear agreement to “deal with the issue from a humanitarian point of view… and if we have to open a criminal case than we will.”
Shibani, for his part, said that the meeting intended as a “follow-up on the issue of the four Iranian diplomats in accordance with the consultation of Lebanese officials regarding this issue.”
He said that he had presented Najjar with a detailed explanation of the facts that the Iranian embassy had obtained regarding the case, and he added that his embassy had reiterated its call for the creation of an Iranian-Lebanese follow-up committee to resolve the matter.
“Minister Najjar, as a justice minister and a political personality, who represents the Lebanese Forces in the national unity government, has shown full readiness to set up the committee,” he said.
“We hope we reach a [conclusion] on this tragic issue, a [tragedy] the families of the Iranian diplomats have been living with for 27 years."