Time.news – The Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar, who is investigating the devastating explosion that destroyed the port of Beirut in August 2020 and part of the city, it indicted eight other people, including the attorney general Ghassan Oueidat and three other magistrates. This was reported by a judicial source, specifying that the charges against them are of “murder, arson and sabotage”.
The explosion at the port of Beirut, which occurred on August 4, 2020, resulted in the death of more than 215 people and the wounding of more than 6,500, devastating the airport and part of the Lebanese capital. It was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a large quantity of ammonium nitrate had been recklessly stored for years. According to the indictment, Oueidat in 2019 had overseen an investigation by the security services into the cracks in the warehouse where the substance was stored, usually used as fertilizer but also to produce explosives.
In all, they are 13 people accused in the investigation, strongly hindered by the political powers that have tried in every way to cover it up, effectively blocking for over a year the work of Bitar who just yesterday took over the file. Among the people already in the crosshairs of justice, there are l’ex premier Hassan Diabformer Minister of Public Works, Yousef Fenianos, former Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil and former Minister of Public Works Ghazi Zeiter.
New interrogations have been scheduled for the week between 6 and 13 February but Diab has already refused. Among the names on the list filtered yesterday also those of the former director of General Security, Abbas Ibrahim, close to Hezbollah, and the head of State Security, Tony Saliba, an ally of the former Maronite Christian president Michel Aoun. Bitar has been harshly attacked by Hezbollah and its affiliated Amal party who accuse him of being partial and have repeatedly asked for his exemption, also organizing protests.
By early 2021 his predecessor had been removed after incriminating top politicians; Bitar himself faced dozens of proceedings against him and the Interior Ministry did not follow up on the arrest warrants he ordered, hindering the investigation. The press aligned with the Shiite movement accused him of “acting on American orders and with European judicial support”. Washington’s embassy in Beirut immediately posted a tweet expressing support for the Lebanese authorities, urging them to “conduct a timely and transparent investigation”.