Hezbollah’s campaign against Beirut blast judge paralyses Lebanon’s government
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Hezbollah and its political allies have intensified Lebanon’s political crisis and paralysed the new government by trying to push the cabinet to dismiss Tarek Bitar, the judge in charge of investigating the 2020 Beirut blast.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Lebanese government is already in a fragile state – even though it was only formed on September 10. Many hoped that the new administration would launch reforms to get Lebanon out of a political and economic crisis after a thirteen-month political vacuum. But instead the cabinet has found itself paralysed by tensions around the investigation into the cataclysmic August 2020 Beirut port explosion.
These tensions contributed to the deadly shootings in Beirut on October 14 at a demonstration organised by Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement. The protesters were demanding the removal of the judge in charge of the investigation into the Beirut blast, Tarek Bitar, amid political pressure and a smear campaign pushing for his dismissal.
The same day that the situation got out of hand on the streets of Beirut – in scenes reminiscent of bloody moments during the 1975-90 Lebanese Civil War – the country’s highest court rejected complaints against Bitar brought by several ex-ministers, allowing him to resume the inquiry.
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“Everything is clear from a legal point of view, because several court rulings over recent weeks ensured that Bitar is still doing his job,” noted Antoine Sfeir, a law professor at the Saint Joseph University of Beirut and a practising lawyer in both Beirut and Paris. But from a “political vantage point”, Sfeir continued, the pressure against Bitar has become “explosive” for the Lebanese government.
Indeed, days before this month’s bloodshed in…
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Source : france24
