Aoun: request for telecom data is blackmail

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun accused on Tuesday the March 14 camp of seeking to ruin Lebanon over their request of the complete telecommunications data in various assassination attempts. He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “They are blackmailing us by demanding that obtaining the telecom data be a main condition for participating in the national dialogue.” “The complete data cannot be handed over if the request is illegal and infringes on people’s rights,” he added. “The telecom data is not a joke. It can only be handed over in case a crime has been committed,” Aoun explained. “Anything other than that would be considered blackmail. They want to ruin the national dialogue table,” declared the FPM leader. “They want to ruin the country if they believe that the data does not harm the people’s rights,” he stressed. The March 14 camp announced on Monday its boycott of the national dialogue session that was set for Tuesday. It explained that it will not attend the all-party talks over the failure to hand over the telecom data and the failure to discuss Hizbullah’s arms and Palestinian possesses of weapons inside and outside refugee camps.