Ziad Baroud (Arabic: زياد بارود, born in 1970) is a Lebanese lawyer and prominent civil society activist. On May 26, 2011 he resigned from office as Minister of Interior and Municipalities in Saad Hariri's government. His resignation came after the developing conflict between Internal Security Forces and the Ministry of Telecommunications in Lebanon (see Below). Baroud is married to Linda Karam and they have one son, Theo-Raphael, and two daughters, Elsa-Karol and Ayla-Maria.[1]
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Baroud was born in jieta Keserwan. His father is a mathematics teacher and his mother, Antoinette, is an Arabic literature teacher. He completed his education at Collège Saint Joseph (a private school in Aintoura (where he also taught for a year in 2001)) and attended the Faculty of Law at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. He was admitted to the Bar in 1993. In July 2001, he became one of the founding members of the Democratic Renewal Movement along with many other prominent members of Lebanese civil society. He performed his training in Minister of Justice Ibrahim Najjar's law firm then created his own law firm HBDT in 2003.[2] In 2008, he became Minister of Interior and Municipalities in Fouad Siniora's government as part of President Michel Suleiman's bloc following the signing of the Doha Agreement.
On May 26, 2011 Baroud announced that he would no longer continue his ministerial duties, due the repeated violations of the Internal security forces, who acted as rogue militants and as Baroud was quoted "had turned the law into a point of view". Baroud’s resignation came after the developing events that occurred on Thursday when his colleague Minister of Telecommunications in Lebanon Charbel Nahas was banned from entering one of his ministry’s buildings by an Internal Security Forces unit loyal to Saad Hariri. Baroud, who constitutionally was the highest command in Lebanon's security, ordered the ISF personnel to leave the building, but as he was accustomed to, his orders were ignored by the head of the ISF Ashraf Rifi. [3]
His resignation speech included the following statement: “Since I no longer want to be a false witness or a caretaker minister with the duty to sign the ministry’s mail, which something an acting minister can do and since I don’t want to violate the constitution despite any political stance, I decided to free myself from my duties ,”.[4]
Since then, Baroud has been planning to run for a parliamentary seat in the Keserwan District. He will be a candidate on President Suleiman's electoral list, whomever the president is allied with.