Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab was charged last Thursday in the investigation into the Beirut port explosion. (Credit: Dalati & Nohra)
BEIRUT — After caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab refused to be questioned in the investigation into the Beirut port explosion Monday, Investigative Judge Fadi Sawwan is facing uncharted waters after charging the outgoing premier with “criminal negligence” last week, legal experts told L’Orient Today.
Diab, who was set to be questioned Monday, refused to meet with Sawwan, the lead judge in the Beirut port explosion probe, because “he said all he had to say in his first affidavit to the judge a few months back," a source at the Grand Serail said.
Sawwan then responded by rescheduling Diab’s questioning for 9 a.m. on Friday.
Diab, along with three former ministers, are the most senior figures to be charged in the investigation into the devastating Aug. 4 blast, caused by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate haphazardly stored in a port warehouse by authorities since 2014. The blast killed more than 200 people and wounded thousands.
The charges are considered a significant step forward in the blast investigation, which has so far been slow moving and opaque.
Should Diab continue to evade questioning, Sawwan could potentially issue an arrest warrant and forcibly bring in the caretaker prime minister, according to Wissam Lahham, a constitutional law professor at St. Joseph University.
“We are in uncharted waters. This has never happened in Lebanon. But if Sawwan wants to put out an arrest warrant against Diab, he can,” Lahham said.
However, in remarks published earlier Monday, caretaker Interior Minister Mohamed Fehmi said that he would refuse to implement a judicial order to deploy security forces to arrest Diab, calling the premier’s indictment “unfair and slanderous.”
“It is not permissible to blame a 7-year-old, complex file on a prime minister who has only been in the government for a few months,” Fehmi said.
The ammonium nitrate had been stored in the port warehouse for six years, a period spanning four governments, including two led by current Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. Diab came into office in January.
“Sorry, but I will not execute that order. I will not ask the security forces to implement a judicial decision of that kind,” Fehmi said in an interview with Al-Joumhouria newspaper.
“Let them prosecute me instead.”
If Fehmi refuses to bring Diab in for questioning, the move could be considered a crime, “because he would have countered a valid court decision,” said Nizar Saghieh, the executive director of Legal Agenda.
“If a minister counters the execution of a judicial decision, this is a crime and this can be prosecuted according to Article 371 of the penal code, subject to two years in jail,” Saghieh said.
“It is a very dangerous thing that was said by Fehmi today. If he does this, it would be like a coup against the constitution,” Saghieh said.
The next step in the legal proceedings against Diab is for Sawwan to question him and decide whether or not to issue a formal accusatory decision, which would refer him to the Court of Justice to stand trial.
If Diab refuses to cooperate, another option is for Sawwan to indict Diab and refer him to the Court of Justice without questioning, Saghieh explained.
“Sawwan is an investigative judge; he is investigating whether Diab is guilty or not. If Diab refuses to cooperate with the judge, he could accuse him of being guilty,” Saghieh said.
Neither the Interior Ministry nor Sawwan’s office could be immediately reached for comment.