Search
Search

PORT BLAST INVESTIGATION

Court of Cassation dismisses case against Beirut blast judge, allowing probe to resume

The Court of Cassation’s decision will allow Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the 2020 Beirut port probe to resume. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

BEIRUT — A Lebanese court on Thursday dismissed a legal complaint brought against the lead investigator of last year’s Beirut port blast probe, allowing him to resume work, court documents showed.

The probe into the catastrophic August explosion, which killed more than 200, was suspended this week following the complaint by two top politicians, one of whom lead judge Tarek Bitar had issued an arrest warrant for.

Bitar has been under enormous pressure from groups that accuse his investigation of bias and have mounted a smear campaign against him that spilled over into cabinet on Tuesday, tipping the country into a new crisis as it battles an economic meltdown.

The powerful Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah has led calls for Bitar’s removal and accused him of being politicized, and planed protests alongside the Shiite Amal Movement on Thursday in Beirut to demand that he go.

This week’s complaint was the latest in a series of cases filed against Bitar him by various politicians he wanted to question over their alleged knowledge of the chemicals that triggered the explosion after having been stored unsafely at the port for years.

It was brought forward by former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and former Public Works Minister Ghazi Zeiter.

Bitar had issued an arrest warrant for Khalil, the right-hand man of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri — the most senior Shi'ite in the state — and a close Hezbollah ally, shortly before the investigation was suspended.


BEIRUT — A Lebanese court on Thursday
dismissed a legal complaint brought against the lead
investigator of last year’s Beirut port blast probe, allowing
him to resume work, court documents showed.
The probe into the catastrophic August explosion, which
killed more than 200, was suspended this week following the
complaint by two top politicians, one of whom...