Lebanese Parliament should adopt urgent judicial independence law: HRW

In a recent report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Lebanese Parliament to urgently adopt a law on the independence of the judiciary, which meets international standards.  

The report stated that a 2018 draft law regarding the independence of the judiciary remains under committee review. Further, the Coalition for the Independence of the Judiciary criticized attempts by the Administration and Justice Parliamentary Committee, and the Minister of Justice to amend the bill in a manner that breaches international standards.  

Additionally, during a press conference by the Lebanese Coalition for the Independence of the Judiciary, nine members of the Parliament introduced two draft laws that would reinforce the independence of judicial investigations and prevent political interference.   

If adopted, the draft laws would amend Article 751 of the Lebanese Code of Civil Procedure and Article 52 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, “both of which have been used to paralyze the investigation into the August 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion and other investigations into financial crimes and allegations of fraud,” said HRW.  

Human Rights Watch also called for these amendments to introduce a critical step towards removing political interference with judicial independence, namely in the Beirut Port explosion investigation.  

“The amendments would prevent the automatic suspension of judicial investigations when plaintiffs take legal action against the investigative judge or request their disqualification or withdrawal from the case. Instead, the competent court would decide on the suspension of judicial investigations,” added the organization.  

It also urged the UN member states not to ignore the pleas for support and called on the Human Rights Council to pass a resolution to establish an independent and fact-finding mission on the Beirut blast.