Explosion of the port of Beirut: the instruction of judge Tarek Bitar mistreated by Hezbollah

Explosion of the port of Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, the explosion left more than 200 dead and 6,500 injured, and devastated entire districts of Beirut.

AP - Hassan Ammar

Text by: Paul Khalifeh Follow

2 min

Judge Tarek Bitar, in charge of the investigation into the double explosion at the port of Beirut, which in August 2020 left 215 dead, 6,500 injured and destroyed part of the Lebanese capital, was temporarily removed from the case.

A little earlier, he had issued an arrest warrant against a former Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil, for "

".

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From our correspondent in Beirut

, 

The standoff between justice and the political class around the investigation into the double explosion in the port of Beirut turned into an open confrontation on Tuesday. An hour after issuing an arrest warrant against a former Minister of Finance, MP Ali Khalil, for his refusal to appear before him, the investigating judge, Tarek Bitar, was temporarily removed from the case.

This relinquishment follows a complaint for incompetence filed against the magistrate by Ali Khalil and another minister Ghazi Zeiter, also indicted.

This is the third appeal filed by politicians against Tarek Bitar, the two previous ones having been rejected by the Courts of Appeal and Cassation.

In September again the judge was temporarily removed from the case following a complaint lodged by a former Minister of the Interior indicted in connection with the investigation.

► To read also: 

This new soap opera of the legal-political standoff comes the day after a severe charge launched by the head of Hezbollah against Tarek Bitar. Hassan Nasrallah accused the magistrate of politicizing the investigation, of being selective in the prosecutions he initiates and of neglecting the essential: that is to say, the origin of the ammonium nitrate which exploded, why the cargo landed in Beirut and to whom it was intended, according to Hassan Nasrallah. 

The judge initiated legal proceedings in early July against

Lebanese

, including the resigning Prime Minister Hassan Diab.

Most of those prosecuted by Judge Tarek Bitar are politically close to Hezbollah even though they belong to different communities.

Ali Khalil is Deputy Head of Parliament Nabih Berry, the state's main Shiite political figure.

► To read also: Explosion of the port of Beirut: "Lebanese officials knew there was a risk"

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