The Plight of the Rightless: Mapping and Understanding Statelessness in Tripoli-V1.3 on the subject matter and will ask the General Security to start its investigation. Both reference bodies are not bound by a timeframe. In practice, the lawsuit slows down at this stage and Personal Status Directorate and General Security take a significant amount of time to get back to the court with the results of the investigation. Based on the investigations and the responses by all parties, the court can either approve or refuse the lawsuit. However, the judge has no timeframe or deadlines for the release of his ruling. If the judge accepted to grant the Lebanese nationality to the plaintiff, it is still possible for the Lebanese State to appeal the decision. In case the judge issues a negative decision, the plaintiff can appeal. In practice today, most of nationality lawsuits turn into very lengthy procedures. This is due to the difficulty in finding evidence in support of unknown nationality or ancestor belonging to the Ottoman Empire and residency in Lebanon, as well as the fact that the means of proof of nationality are case-sensitive, and their provision and study could require an extended timeframe. In some cases related to the 1994 naturalisation decree, it is also due to the controversy that followed the decree and its subsequent challenge before the State Council by the Maronite League. 50