The relaunch this week of the investigation into the Beirut port explosion in August 2020 triggered an unprecedented impasse, with the lead judicial investigator and top prosecutor accusing each other. Critics called it a “sham” but for the families of the victims who continue to seek justice. The scene is heartbreaking and frustrating.
The investigation into the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, which killed 220 people, this week turned into a legal tug of war between Lebanon’s attorney general, Ghassan Oweidat, and Judge Tarek Bitar, commissioned to investigate one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.
The latest twist in the long search 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 action taken against him by members of the Lebanese political class.
Judge Bitar’s decision to relaunch the investigation was as unexpected as it was unruly, since the next day he issued summons to various personalities from the Lebanese political and security establishment.
Among the men summoned for questioning starting on February 6 were Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaiter, two former ministers from Amal, a Shiite political party led by Nabih Beri, long-time speaker of Parliament, a powerful figure dubbed the actor “untouchable” politician in Lebanon.
Among the other heavyweights in the indictment are former Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, Tony Saliba, head of state security and an ally of the country’s former president Michel Aoun, and Abbas Ibrahim, head of general security, considered close to the axis of Shiite power formed by Hezbollah and Amal.
The attorney general files charges against the judge
But it was Judge Bitar’s decision to take legal action against Oweidat, the Attorney General, that unleashed a storm that has exposed the levels of impunity, corruption and state collapse that have plunged Lebanon into a series of devastating crises.
Oweidat had previously refrained from taking part in the investigation into the explosion, as Judge Bitar had issued an arrest warrant for his brother-in-law, Zaiter, the Amal politician who was Lebanon’s minister of public works.
According to a judicial official quoted by AFP, in 2019, Oweidat had overseen a security services investigation into cracks in the Beirut port warehouse where hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored without security measures since its unloading in 2013. The ammonium nitrate explosion caused the August 2020 harbor explosion.
The tragedy – which caused thousands of injuries in addition to 220 deaths and destroyed downtown Beirut – is blamed in large part on the negligence, corruption and lack of accountability of the Lebanese ruling class.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Oweidat responded to his own indictment by ordering the release of the 17 people detained without trial since the port explosion and charged Judge Bitar with “rebellion against justice” and “usurpation of power.”
In addition, the judge was prohibited from leaving Lebanese territory and was summoned for questioning on Thursday morning, the General Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation said in a statement sent to AFP.
In response to the summons, Judge Bitar told reporters on Wednesday that he had no intention of appearing for questioning. “I am still in charge of the investigation and I will not give up this case. The prosecutor has no authority to prosecute me,” he told reporters.
On Thursday, the crisis had escalated with protesters gathering outside the Ministry of Justice in Beirut to protest Oweidat’s “coup” against Judge Bitar.
When protesters tried to force their way into the Ministry of Justice, police used batons and tear gas, injuring at least eight people, they reported. the local media.
Lebanese special forces barricade public prosecutor Ghassan Ouediat’s office at Beirut’s courthouse as protesters outside try to break in.
Oueidat is accused of organizing a coup against Beirut blast judge Tarek Bitar, angering families of victims. pic.twitter.com/sCxJviXCux
— Timour Azhari (@timourazhari) January 26, 2023
Opposition lawmakers who arrived at the ministry to meet Justice Minister Henry Khoury said they were accosted by Khoury’s bodyguards, who tried to take their mobile phones.
Meanwhile, one of the 17 detainees released on Oweidat’s order arrived in the United States on Thursday, according to the Lebanese daily Naharnet.
Mohammed Ziad al-Ouf, director of the security and protection department and a dual Lebanese and US national, left the country despite travel bans imposed on all released detainees, it added. The report.
The first judge is removed, the second faces pressure
The latest events, described as “judicial farce” by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have sparked the ire of the families of the victims, who were initially delighted by the relaunch of the investigation into the Beirut port explosion.
“Only 13 months ago, we were fighting for justice to resume its course, so to see Judge Bitar back in action was a huge surprise. His courage gave us hope in Lebanese justice, even though we never had much confidence in this criminal regime who, from the beginning, has done everything possible to neutralize the judge,” said Paul Naggear, father of Alexandra, one of the youngest victims of the Beirut explosion, in an interview with France 24.
More than two years after the port explosion, the investigation has been hampered by political interference in the judicial process.
Shortly after the explosion, the Justice Minister appointed Judge Fadi Sawan to lead the investigation. But Sawan was removed from the investigation in February 2021 after Zaiter, Oweidat’s brother-in-law, and his Amal colleague Khalil complained that the judge had overreached his duties.
When Judge Bitar was appointed as a substitute, he also ran into problems when he tried to question senior political officials. The suspects flooded the Lebanese courts with court cases calling for the removal of the new lead investigator for alleged bias.
In September 2021, a senior Hezbollah official even threatened to “discredit” Judge Bitar by claiming he was politicized, while rumors circulated that the pro-Iranian Shiite party was involved in stockpiling the ammonium nitrate that caused the port explosion. .
On October 14, armed clashes left six dead in Beirut, on the sidelines of a demonstration organized by Hezbollah and its ally, Amal, in front of the Ministry of Justice to demand the dismissal of Judge Bitar.
The rule of law is dead in Lebanon
But Judge Bitar is trusted by many Lebanese, including the families of the victims, who consider him a man of integrity and courage.
“I expected a counterattack from the prosecutor [Oweidat], but not on this scale, and certainly not to destroy the rule of law, or what was left of it,” Naggear explained. “Because that’s what it’s all about, the rule of law is dead in Lebanon. Faced with the implosion of one of the last institutions that still seemed to work, it is no longer Judge Bitar or even the explosions of August 4 that is at stake, but the entire world and all the ongoing investigations.”
Oweidat’s “offensive against the judge,” Naggear continued, “actually targets those who still believe in justice in this country, and shows that Lebanon is definitely becoming a banana republic.”
Despite all the difficulties, Naggear wants Judge Bitar to remain in his position and not give up when he “faces the prosecutor, who acts as a pawn of the regime, despite the fact that he had recused himself from the case.”
Judge Bitar’s management of a very complex and politicized investigation so far has earned Naggear’s respect. “I have confidence in him because he has worked tenaciously since he was appointed,” Naggear explained. “So far he has not made any mistakes and he does not hesitate to take on the big shots. One has the feeling that he has the support of the international judges who are following the case. I note, for example, that he has returned to action in recent days after the visit of the French judges”.
On January 18, Judge Bitar met with a French judicial delegation that went to Lebanon to investigate the death of two French citizens during the tragedy.
To a direct confrontation
The families of the victims, however, are worried about what will happen next. Will Judge Bitar be removed? How can he continue his work if he doesn’t get his decisions implemented?
“To be honest, we don’t have many cards left to play from now on, except to push the prosecutor as hard as possible to realize the scope and consequences of his actions, which violate our cause and the very essence of justice in Lebanon. “Naggear confessed. “It really is the last straw to see the investigating judge being prosecuted by those he decided to prosecute in the investigation!”
Like many relatives of the victims, Naggear has pinned his hopes for justice on complaints filed outside Lebanon, where the justice system is seen as too dependent on a political class that has refused to allow an international investigation into the tragedy.
On July 13, relatives of the victims filed a $250 million lawsuit in a Texas court, supported by Accountability Now, a Swiss-based advocacy group, against TGS ASA, a US-Norwegian geophysical services group. , for the contracts it allegedly entered into with Lebanese authorities related to the port.
TGS ASA is allegedly linked to the chartering of the Rhosus vessel, which contained the tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded in August 2020.
Filing of a 250 million $ lawsuit in Texas against TGS ASA in relation to the Beirut port Blast: Accountability Now assists a group of victims to seek justice and investigate the corruption network which led to the blast. Ford O’Brien Landy LLP acts as lead counsel.
—Accountability Now (@NowActs) July 13, 2022
“We are heading towards a direct confrontation if Judge Bitar is removed from the case,” Naggear said. “We must move very quickly to prevent this from happening and to alert the international community that Lebanon has become a totally failed state,” he said.
*This article is adapted from its original in French
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