Families of the victims of the Beirut port explosion protest in front of the head of the Higher Judicial Council's house amid army deployment. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Families of the victims of the Beirut port explosion held a sit-in Thursday, in front of the house of the head of the Higher Judicial Council, Judge Souheil Abboud in the town of Ballouneh, Kesrouan, to protest against the Council's decision to appoint an alternate investigative judge in the case of the Aug. 4, 2020 blast.
Here’s what we know:
• The families carried pictures of their children and demanded the independence of the judiciary and for Judge Tarek Bitar to continue to complete the investigation into the port explosion. Army units were deployed in front of Abboud’s house.
• The Higher Judicial Council took the decision Tuesday to appoint an alternate investigative judge in the case, while the lead investigator Tarek Bitar remains in his position. Bitar has been prevented to work on the file due to numerous appeals against him filed by political officials that he had summoned for investigation.
• The nomination of an alternate judge comes after the intercession of the MPs of the Free Patriotic Movement, who criticized the paralysis of the investigation while some administrative and military personnel have been detained for two years, amongst whom the former head of Customs and FPM-affiliated Badri Daher.
• The families of the victims had already protested on Thursday morning in front of the Justice Palace and Wednesday evening in front of Justice Minister Henry Khoury's apartment in Hazmieh, decrying the decision A father who had lost their child in the explosion and who was present at Wednesday’s sit-in in front of the Justice Palace, told L’Orient Today that the decision was an attempt to “obstruct” the investigation and free the detainees. Others have echoed cries of "political interference."
• The families carried...