Shiite Council Rejects Meeting with Movement for Change on Political Recommendation
According to MTV sources, the office of Deputy Head of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council, Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib, had initially scheduled a meeting with the head of the Movement for Change party Elie Mahfoud and a delegation from the party. However, hours later, Al-Khatib’s office contacted Mahfoud’s office requesting to postpone the meeting due to an unexpected trip.
More than a week passed without the Council’s Secretariat proposing a new date. This prompted the Movement for Change office to contact Sheikh Al-Khatib’s office again to reschedule the meeting, as previously agreed. The response they received was: “We’ll get back to you” — which never happened.
Mahfoud then tasked party leadership council member, lawyer Claude El-Hayek, with following up and contacting the Shiite authority again to request a new appointment. Despite several attempts, the only answer was again, “We’ll get back to you,” and weeks passed without any update. The person in charge of scheduling, the deputy’s secretary, eventually stopped answering calls altogether.
MTV has learned that a political party, upon hearing about the planned meeting, intervened and requested that it not take place. They reportedly asked that Mahfoud and the Movement for Change delegation not be received, due to Mahfoud’s known positions critical of Hezbollah.
