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The relaunching this week of the investigation into the August 2020 Beirut port blast triggered an unprecedented impasse with the lead judicial investigator and top prosecutor slapping charges against each other. Critics called it a “farce”, but for families of the victims still seeking justice, the parody is wrenching and frustrating.
The investigation into the August 4, 2020, Beirut port blast, which killed 220 people, descended into a legal tug of war this week between Lebanon’s prosecutor general, Ghassan Oweidat, and Judge Tarek Bitar, the investigating judge assigned to probe one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history.
The latest twist in the long-running quest for accountability began on Monday, January 23, when Judge Bitar relaunched the investigation, which had been suspended for more than a year due to legal actions launched against him by members of the Lebanese political establishment.
Judge Bitar’s decision to relaunch the investigation was as unexpected as it was fractious since the next day, he issued summonses to several leading figures in Lebanon’s political and security establishment.
The men who were summoned for questioning from February 6 included Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaiter, two former ministers from Amal, a Shiite political party led by longtime parliamentary speaker Nabih Beri, a powerful figure dubbed Lebanon’s “untouchable” political player.
The other heavyweights on the chargesheet included former Lebanese prime minister, Hassan Diab, Tony Saliba, head of state security and an ally of the country’s former president Michel Aoun, as well as Abbas Ibrahim, head of general security who is considered close to the Shiite power axis comprised of Hezbollah and Amal.
Attorney general files charges against judge
But it was Judge Bitar’s decision to take legal action against Oweidat, the prosecutor general, that sparked a storm that has…
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Source : france24
