The Jaafarite Mufti Ahmad Kabalan. (Credit: NNA.)
BEIRUT - Jaafarite mufti Ahmad Kabalan warned Thursday judge Tarek Bitar, tasked with the investigation of the Beirut port explosions on Aug. 4, 2020, against any 'politicization of justice.'
Hezbollah and its allies, with whom the mufti is close, regularly accuse the magistrate who in recent years has pursued several charges against officials close to Hezbollah.
"The law is an absolute guarantee and only the truth must prevail," declared the judge in a statement relayed by the state-run National News Agency (NNA). Kabalan further warned the judge against "political calculations and international interferences" in his investigation of the August 4 tragedy.
On the eve of the scheduled hearing Friday of former security directors Abbas Ibrahim (General Security) and Tony Saliba (State Security) by Bitar, the Shiite cleric warned against "any malicious maneuver that would plunge Lebanon into a nightmare with catastrophic consequences." He also advocated for "impartial justice" in this case, not "a political settlement."
After the Aug. 4, 2020 catastrophe, Hezbollah had been singled out by its detractors who accused it of being responsible for the transport and storage of ammonium nitrate that caused the deadly explosion. Accusations that Hezbollah denies, while the investigation is still ongoing, and several security and political officials have been indicted by Bitar, some of whom are close to Hezbollah.
The judge had filed charges against a series of political, security, and judicial officials in Jan. 2023, but could not summon them due to a ban immediately imposed by the former chief public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Ghassan Oueidate, who ordered the judicial police to no longer cooperate with the magistrate.
Since the new head of the prosecutor's office, Jamal Hajjar, reversed his predecessor's decision on March 10, Bitar has been able to easily notify individuals he wishes to hear, thanks to the judicial police resuming following his instructions.