The door to the office of Judge Habib Mezher was on Tuesday symbolically sealed with red wax by activists. (Credit: Screenshot of a video circulating on social networks)
BEIRUT — Justice Minister Henri Khoury on Wednesday criticized the entry of protesters into the Justice Palace the previous day and warned against transforming the port blast investigation into a “judicial drama” and the classification of judges into “national causes to be [either] defended or attacked.”
Here’s what we know:
• Khoury expressed grief over the “unprecedented violation of the sanctity of the justice palace,” adding that the Justice Palace “should remain a haven for judges, attorneys and those accused.”
• On Tuesday, about a dozen activists affiliated with the Noun organization protested Judge Habib Mezher’s suspension of Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion by sealing his office with red wax.
• Mezher had put a hold on the port blast investigation in response to a lawsuit filed by former minister Youssef Fenianos. However, this suspension was criticized as being outside Mezher’s jurisdiction because the case was under the ruling of Judge Nassib Elia. The public outcry of judges in response to Mezher’s intervention resulted in his dismissal.
• The Judges’ Club issued a statement Wednesday criticizing the politicization of the judiciary as something that would deform it as “it deforms all it touches” and warning that the “court of history will be pitiless.”