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| By Hasan Lakkis - BEIRUT: Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui dared March 14 lawmakers Monday to seek a vote of confidence in him for refusing to provide security services with telephone communications information on the pretext of protecting people’s privacy. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star, Sehnaoui reiterated that the Telecommunications Ministry cannot provide to anyone “all data” in line with a Cabinet decision. Asked to comment on some March 14 MPs who said they might seek a vote of confidence in him during next week’s three parliamentary sessions on the government’s performance, Sehnaoui said: “If they are honest with themselves, I call on them to demand [a vote of] confidence. But I am afraid that they are not honest with themselves.” Sehnaoui’s remarks came as the row over the so-called “telecoms data,” which enables the tracking of telephone communications, escalated in the country following last week’s failed attempt to assassinate Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. The incident has fueled fears of a return to a wave of political assassinations that rocked Lebanon following the 2005 killing of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A senior security source told The Daily Star last week that the Telecommunications Ministry had turned down repeated requests since Jan. 15, including a request last week following the attempt on Geagea’s life, to provide security services with telecoms data on the pretext of protecting the people’s privacy. In the interview with The Daily Star, Sehnaoui said that he receives daily sometimes up to 300 requests for telecoms data from several security agencies and that he approves them in line with a mechanism stated by the law. But he stressed that his ministry cannot provide to anyone “all data” without the approval of a judicial committee made up of three top judges in Lebanon in line with a Cabinet decision. “What the Lebanese should know is that the security services had in the past obtained all [telecoms] data from the Telecommunications Ministry in violation of the law and the Constitution,” he said. “I brought up this issue in the Cabinet, saying that the citizens’ privacy and freedom should not be violated,” Sehnaoui said. “During a session on Feb. 1, the Cabinet decided that all data, or comprehensive information about the [phone] contacts of all the Lebanese, must go through the judicial committee made up of three top judges in Lebanon,” he added. “The Lebanese must know that this committee was not set up in an arbitrary manner ... It comprises three top judges in the country in line with Law 140,” he said. Sehnaoui said he received a letter from the committee on March 21 signed by the committee’s president, Judge Hatem Madi, and members, judges Shukri Sader and Aouni Ramadan, in which the three unanimously rejected as “illegal” requests for “an administrative interception of telephone calls.” The judges decided the requests “do not serve the process of tracking the suspicious security and terrorist networks which justify such requests.” “On the contrary, they [the requests] amount to an infringement on individual freedoms which are guaranteed by the Constitution and safeguarded by Law 140/99 and make persons who have nothing to do with terrorist networks exposed to violation of their communications secrecy even at a minimum,” the judges said in their letter to Sehnaoui. “The committee decided unanimously not to agree to the above-mentioned interception requests because they are illegal and to inform the prime minister and the interior and municipalities minister [of its decision],” the judges said. Although the judges’ letter did not say who had sent the requests for interception of telephone calls, a security source said the telecoms data request had been made by the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch at the request of the Prosecution General’s office. The data usually includes the location of a caller and his movements. Sehnaoui said March 14 and Future bloc MPs launched a campaign against him because he did not provide security services with telecoms data. Pledging to stick to legal and technical provisions on telecoms data, Sehnaoui said, referring to March 14 politicians: “If I want to speak in politics, my response will be painful. Those who appear on TV and sell Lebanon 17 times with WikiLeaks, they are not demanding the data for the reasons they claim they need them. God knows why they want to get the data.” Sehnaoui refuted claims that his ministry had provided Hezbollah with telecoms data while denying this data to security services. However, he admitted that Hezbollah had the right to have its private telecommunications network “but not within the Lebanese state’s network.” Foll ... Source: http://www.tayyar.org/Tayyar/News/PoliticalNews/en-US/Nicolas-Sehnaoui-mt-06098.htm Beach holidays Weather The FA Twitter Chalkboards France 
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