Next to the site of the explosion in Tleil, the home of landowner George Rashid Ibrahim, was torched by residents angered that the fuel had been stored on his land. (Credit: João Sousa/L’Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The Military Court's Government Commissioner Judge Fadi Akiki has accused three people of causing the deadly Aug. 15 fuel tanker explosion in Tleil, Akkar.
Here’s what we know so far:
• Akiki accused two of the defendants, George Ibrahim and Ali Sobhi Faraj, of storing explosive material in an unsafe manner, despite the knowledge that the material was hazardous, thus “endangering the lives of citizens, and causing the killing of 31 soldiers and civilians.”
• George Ibrahim, also known as George Rashid, the owner of the land where the fuel was stored, was arrested on the day of the explosion. Before his arrest, Ibrahim had released a video claiming that the fuel tanks belonged to Faraj and that he had not been aware of their contents.
• The third defendant, Gergi Elias Ibrahim, was accused of igniting the fire that caused the explosion. An army source told L’Orient Today that the accused fire starter is in the hospital, having been wounded in the explosion..
• While the army reported on the day of the explosion that it had arrested the landowner’s son as well as the landowner, the army source said the alleged fire setter, Gergi Ibrahim, was not the son of George Ibrahim. It was not immediately clear what the relationship between the men was.
• Faraj was arrested four months ago on charges of smuggling and remains in prison, the army source said.
• Eyewitnesses told L’Orient Today that the explosion was ignited by a man deliberately throwing a lighter on the ground.
• Charbel Abou, former mayor and current municipality member of Tleil told L’Orient Today that some 60,000 liters of gasoline and 40,000 liters of diesel were stored at the site.
• After the fuel was discovered on Aug. 14, the army confiscated most of it and moved it off-site, but about 3,000 liters were left at the site, according to witnesses and a security source. Late in the evening, the army had reportedly allowed a few people who were at the scene to fill up from the fuel that was left. Once the word got out, locals said, hundreds more flocked to the location to attempt to get a share.
• If convicted, the NNA reported, George Ibrahim and Faraj would face a penalty of hard labor for an unspecified term, while Gergi Ibrahim would face a sentence of life in prison with hard labor. Akiki referred the defendants to the first acting investigative judge at the military court, Fadi Sawwan.
Here’s what we know so far: • Akiki accused two of the defendants, George Ibrahim and Ali Sobhi Faraj, of storing explosive material in an unsafe manner, despite the knowledge that the material was...