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AKKAR

Tleil explosion trial postponed to March 31

A charred tanker and scrap metal left at the site of an explosion in Tleil, Akkar. (Credit: Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today)

BEIRUT — The trial of the defendants in the explosion of a fuel tanker in Tleil, Akkar governorate in Aug. 2021 has been postponed to March 31 following a session Friday at the courthouse in Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Two of the defendants are being tried in absentia. 

A deadly explosion shook the town of Tleil amid a fuel shortage in Lebanon, killing 31 people, including a dozen soldiers, and injuring dozens, some suffering from severe burns.

The tragedy took place a few hours after the army discovered two tanks of fuel illegally stored on a field in the village, to which local residents rushed to collect gasoline.

According to a judicial source contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the trial has been postponed as the file needs completion, particularly with regard to the plaintiffs and defendants.

This decision was taken by the Court of Justice, headed by Judge Souheil Abboud, the source added.

Read more:

The night their world exploded: Victims and families share their accounts of the deadly Akkar blast

The first elements of the investigation revealed that the fuel was stored by Ali Faraj — a known trafficker in the region who was imprisoned at the time of the explosion — on a plot of land belonging to one of his business partners, George Ibrahim.

At the end of July 2022, the courts issued an indictment against the two men, Georges Ibrahim's son, Richard, and another family member, Gergi, accused of deliberately setting fire to the premises.

BEIRUT — The trial of the defendants in the explosion of a fuel tanker in Tleil, Akkar governorate in Aug. 2021 has been postponed to March 31 following a session Friday at the courthouse in Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported. Two of the defendants are being tried in absentia. A deadly explosion shook the town of Tleil amid a fuel shortage in Lebanon, killing 31 people,...