The former Director General of Lebanese Customs, Badri Daher. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Ex-Customs Director Badri Daher, who has been detained following the Aug. 4, 2020 port explosion, has been ordered to be released in a separate case regarding his request to lift a travel ban on a Saudi prince caught smuggling Captagon out of Lebanon in November 2020, after serving his time, Daher's lawyer told L'Orient Today on Thursday.
Daher however will stay in custody because of the ongoing port explosion probe.
Daher's lawyer says that Beirut's Accusation Committee Judge Maher Cheato was the one who ordered the release. The attorney had appealed Daher's arrest, which was ordered by Judge Charbel Bou Samra and took place in November 2020, after he and several others were arrested in August 2020, a few weeks after the explosion.
Daher was detained alongside 24 other port officials, employees and contractors, in the immediate aftermath of the Beirut explosion.
Last month, the Higher Judicial Council decided to appoint a substitute judge for the investigative Judge Tarek Bitar to rule on urgent matters, which many believe is a political maneuver to facilitate the release of the port blast detainees.
However, this substitution of an alternative judge has yet to take place.