More than 300 people protested in Adlieh against the decision by the Advocate General of the Court of Cassation to suspend the execution of the arrest warrant issued for former Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos. (Credit: Matthieu Karam)
More than 300 family members and friends of the victims of the Aug. 4 Beirut Port explosion, which destroyed a large part of the capital, gathered in front of the Justice Ministry (Adlieh) at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
They were protesting against the decision made a week ago by the Advocate General at the Court of Cassation, Sabouh Sleiman, to suspend the execution of the arrest warrant issued in September 2021 by the investigating judge at the Court of Justice, Tarek Bitar, for the former Minister of Public Works, Youssef Fenianos. The demonstrators present also protested against the summoning by the public prosecutor of journalist Riad Tawk, who denounced the suspension of the warrant.
The demonstrators stuck up placards incriminating Lebanese officials, whom they accused of sabotaging the investigation into the Aug. 4 explosion. The photo shows Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and MP Ali Hassan Khalil, both key members of the Amal movement. (Credit: Matthieu Karam)
Judge Bitar made this decision after the senior official failed to appear for the hearing he had scheduled to question him in the case of the double explosion at the port, the causes and perpetrators of which are still unknown, three and a half years after the event.
Youssef Fenianos, who belongs to the Christian Marada movement, allied with Hezbollah, had appealed seven months ago to have the warrant suspended on the grounds that Judge Bitar was the subject of several appeals to remove him from the case, preventing him from continuing his investigation.
The Aug. 4 explosion killed more than 220 people, injured 6,500 and devastated swathes of the capital, as Lebanon entered the first year of the worst economic and financial crisis in its history.