The Beirut Port judge charges the discriminatory public prosecutor and the former prime minister

The explosion occurred due to the storage of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate.

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The investigating judge in the Beirut port explosion in 2020, Tariq Al-Bitar, charged the Public Prosecutor, Ghassan Oweidat, the then Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, and other current and former senior officials in connection with the devastating explosion, according to judicial sources and a summons from a court.

The judge charged four judges, including the Cassation Public Prosecutor, in an unprecedented procedure that was rejected by the Cassation Public Prosecution yesterday, while he set dates for the interrogation of 13 defendants, between February 6 and 22, in the context of public lawsuits “for crimes of murder, abuse, arson and vandalism.” All on probabilistic intent.

The day before yesterday, Judge Al-Bitar unexpectedly resumed the investigation, after he was paralyzed for more than a year in light of political obstacles and legal challenges filed by senior officials whom he sought to interrogate.

The explosion occurred on August 4, 2020, in a warehouse in the port where hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored in poor conditions since it was unloaded in 2013. So far, no senior official has been held accountable.

Al-Bitar accused former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and former ministers of “killing with probable intent,” according to a court summons seen by Reuters.

Judicial sources stated that he also pressed charges against the Director of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, the former army commander, Jean Kahwaji, and former security and judicial officials or those still in service.

The charges against them were not immediately clear, but a judicial source said that Al-Bitar concluded that Oweidat had not acted responsibly with regard to the ammonium nitrate.

All those whom Al-Bitar had previously accused had denied involvement in any wrongdoing.

Yesterday, Oweidat sent an official letter to Al-Bitar, in which he said that the investigation was still pending, and that no official decision had been issued regarding whether he could resume the investigation, according to a copy seen by Reuters, and told him, according to the letter: “We confirm that your hand is blind.”

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