Charbel says security situation in good shape

Interior and Municipalities Minister told Voice of Lebanon radio Sunday that crimes taking place in Lebanon can happen anywhere in the world, and that the situation is secure under the watchful eye of his ministry, which also needed an extra fifty thousand members to control entire country including Dahyeh.

Number of murders, rape, and theft escalated in an alarming manner in recent months. Most recent gruesome crime was the rape and murder of 27 year old Miriam Ashkar at the hands of a Syrian janitor.

"The criminal will be tried [in Lebanon] within three months, and capital punishment is a possibility," said Marwan Charbel, adding that the situation in Lebanese prisons was unhealthy on many levels.

He promised that two more prisons were under construction, and that a parliamentary decree was bound to reduce the prison year and give amnesty in certain cases.Beirut's southern suburb (Dahyeh) was notorious for being under Hezbollah rule, where all government security forces were banned from entering. Charbel denied this, stating that Internal Security Forces have jurisdiction there just like in any part of the country.

The Minister warned of a fifth column attempting to cause strife among Lebanese.

He called upon all political factions to rally around a dialogue table, as he ruled out cabinet resignation. Charbel insisted that he was with funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, investigating the murder of PM Rafik Hariri in 2005.

"All requests of tribunal's Prosecutor General are carried out in full by Ministry of Interior."