Lahoud Gives in, Geagea out in July, Gets TV Set in Prison, MTV to Reopen
President Lahoud has bowed to the will of the majority in Lebanon's newly elected parliament, ascertaining that he will issue a new decree to convene an extraordinary sitting of Parliament to allow the release of Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea by the end of the month.
The new decree, which is expected to be signed and formally announced by the president on Thursday, provides for an extraordinary sitting of parliament through mid-October in response to a petition carrying the signatures of 72 legislators, who added to the agenda a draft bill to reopen the MTV network.
The petition, sponsored by Qornet Shahwan legislator Butros Harb, was first lodged with parliament's secretariat, which in turn dispatched it to the Baabda palace on motorcycle on Wednesday. The palace acknowledged receipt and said President Lahoud was in the process of sending the new decree to the official gazette.
These developments were preceded by a meeting Sitrida Geagea convened of the LF 6-member bloc in parliament at her house in Zouk Mosbeh. A statement afterwards said the LF bloc was bewildered by the first presidential decree, which listed the election of parliament's new committees as the sole agenda item of a 15-day extraordinary sitting.
Geagea in the meantime watched television at his prison room in the defense ministry at Yarze for the first time in 11 years and nearly four months of incarceration on Wednesday, An Nahar reported Thursday morning.
The event came within the context of easing prison restrictions on the LF leader on the eve of his impending release, An Nahar noted
The new decree, which is expected to be signed and formally announced by the president on Thursday, provides for an extraordinary sitting of parliament through mid-October in response to a petition carrying the signatures of 72 legislators, who added to the agenda a draft bill to reopen the MTV network.
The petition, sponsored by Qornet Shahwan legislator Butros Harb, was first lodged with parliament's secretariat, which in turn dispatched it to the Baabda palace on motorcycle on Wednesday. The palace acknowledged receipt and said President Lahoud was in the process of sending the new decree to the official gazette.
These developments were preceded by a meeting Sitrida Geagea convened of the LF 6-member bloc in parliament at her house in Zouk Mosbeh. A statement afterwards said the LF bloc was bewildered by the first presidential decree, which listed the election of parliament's new committees as the sole agenda item of a 15-day extraordinary sitting.
Geagea in the meantime watched television at his prison room in the defense ministry at Yarze for the first time in 11 years and nearly four months of incarceration on Wednesday, An Nahar reported Thursday morning.
The event came within the context of easing prison restrictions on the LF leader on the eve of his impending release, An Nahar noted
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