Beirut explosion: the political class rejects the warrant to bring the judge against Hassane Diab

Hassane Diab, called to appear on September 20 as an accused, rejected the magistrate's decision.

DALATI AND NOHRA / AFP

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3 min

The decision of the investigating judge in charge of the investigation into the double explosion in the port of Beirut, on August 4, 2020, to issue an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister, provoked an outcry from the class. Politics.

Hassane Diab, called to appear on September 20 as an accused, rejected the magistrate's decision.

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With our correspondent in Beirut,

Paul Khalifeh

Judge Tarek Bitar had barely issued a warrant against the Prime Minister on Thursday, August 26, when the Sunni political establishment saw it as an attack on the community from which the head of government came.

The magistrate instructed the

police

to arrest

Hassane Diab

for questioning on September 20, as an accused.

He is accused of negligence along with three former ministers and current deputies, alongside senior security officials.

This Friday, it was Parliament's turn to take the first line, believing that the examining magistrate is incompetent to request the appearance of the Prime Minister.

Parliament's constitutional arguments

Parliament, which had already refused the magistrate's request for the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of the three indicted deputies, once again barricaded itself behind constitutional arguments to reject the warrant against Hassane Diab.

It is before a High Court responsible for trying presidents and ministers that the head of government must appear, and not before a criminal judge, hammered the secretary general of the House.

Parliament called on the Court of Cassation to "

take the appropriate measures

" in this case, without giving any further explanation.

But the allusion is clear: Tarek Bitar's predecessor, Judge Fadi Sawan, was removed from the investigation file in February under pressure from the political class.

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To read also: 

One year after the deadly explosion of the port of Beirut, Lebanon between tributes and anger

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