Internal Security Forces deny receiving full telecom data

          
The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces denied on Monday that it has received full telecommunications data as part of the "required procedure of investigations".             

The directorate issued a statement whereby it noted that it has not yet received full telecom data, pointing out that it will work on revealing whether or not spreading such reports are an attempt to hinder the investigations launched into security events which required the said data.            

Earlier in the day, An-Nahar Daily published an article where it declared that the General Security apparatus has received the telecommunications’ data needed upon the approval of Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.             

According to the newspaper, General Security Chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim sent more than one memorandum to the Interior Ministry and received immediate approvals from PM Mikati and Minister Charbel “who did not take into account the freedom and privacy of citizens”.           

In February, the cabinet backed caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s request to be allowed to approve or reject requests for data by the Internal Security Forces ‘on a case by case basis’, and called for the cooperation of the Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui.           

A debate then erupted between then Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the Telecommunications Minister, who refused to approve a proposal regarding an extension of a request that was granted last year giving security forces access to unrestricted technical data.          

This information allows authorities to track cellphones and subscribers as well as map out communication networks.              

Sehnaoui, whose ministry has handed over such data in the past, opposed the request, citing the constitutional provision guaranteeing the right to privacy.