Kataeb's Head of Public Policy and Legislation, Lara Saade, on Tuesday denounced the draft general amnesty law, deeming it as a crime against the Lebanese.

In a statement to Voice of Lebanon radio station, Saade catalogued the disadvantages of such a proposal:

• It is not a reform but a crime against the Lebanese
• No such law of general amnesty to all crimes was ever issued in all of Lebanon’s history
• A law of the sort is not entitled to include crimes since a general amnesty is not a mere trend
• This a violation of the law by politicians who are equating the criminal with the good citizen
• It is a political interference in the judiciary preventing prosecutors from passing fair and impartial judgments. Judges would not ensure fair adjudication if they know their rendered sentences will be later on waived by the general amnesty law
• This is an infringement offence scheme on justice in Lebanon as it also undermines punishments serving as deterrents to recidivism
• It is a political bribery to thousands of incarcerated individuals
• It is a threat to the Lebanese’s security as one would expect a surge is theft and drug trafficking

Saade affirmed that the law would be a compensation attempt by politicians to make up for their election bribery of amnesty, especially in deprived villages such as Britel, Tripoli, and Baalbeck, recalling the 2000 amnesty law issued by the Syrian government which altered the initial peaceful protests to violent ones with criminals’ release.

“The only solution to the wrongly convicted prisoners is to speed up trial dates and to halt arbitrary arrests, reform of the penitentiary system, as well as provide alternative sanctions and fair trial requirements,” she explained.

She called on the government to uphold its duties by offering decent living conditions to the accused and convicts.