Smoke rises above the port of Beirut after a part of the wheat silos collapsed on August 4, 2022.(Credit: ohammad Yassine/ L'Orient Today.)
BEIRUT — Amal MP and former minister Ghazi Zeaiter did not appear this Friday at the hearing before the investigating judge at the Court of Justice, Tarek Bitar, who had summoned him as a suspect in his investigation into the double explosion at the Beirut port on Aug 4, 2020.
Zeaiter was represented at the hearing by his lawyer, Samer al-Hajj, and a new session has been set for July 18.
On Aug. 4, 2020, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history devastated a large part of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring 6,500. This blast was caused by a fire in a port warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate were stored without precaution, despite repeated warnings to the highest authorities, accused of negligence.
Zeaiter was Minister of Public Works and Transport in 2014 at the time of the ammonium nitrate unloading at the port. An investigation was opened, but Judge Bitar had to suspend his investigations in January 2023, due to the hostility of a large part of the political class, notably Hezbollah, as well as a series of lawsuits directed against him. He resumed his investigation in early 2025 and has already interrogated several former officials, including former Prime Minister Hassane Diab and former Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk.
According to our information, during Friday’s hearing, Judge Bitar informed Parliament, through a memorandum addressed to the Minister of Justice, that he intends to continue legal proceedings against Zeaiter.
Questioned by L’Orient Today, Youssef Lahoud, a lawyer and member of the Beirut Bar indictment office dedicated to defending the families of victims of the double port explosion, explained that Judge Bitar relied on article 97 of the Parliament’s internal regulations. “The text stipulates that if an MP has been accused of a crime outside a parliamentary session and the magistrate in charge of the case wishes to continue the proceedings while a new session is open, he must inform Parliament,” he said.
Lahoud specified that in this case, Zeaiter had been implicated in September 2021, while the Chamber was not sitting. Today, while Parliament is in extraordinary session, the judge must inform both the Minister of Justice and Parliament of the upcoming interrogation hearing. According to article 32 of the Lebanese Constitution, Parliament meets each year in two ordinary sessions, the first ending at the end of May and the second opening in mid-October. However, an extraordinary session was convened at the request of the President of the Republic, Joseph Aoun, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, to advance reform projects.
“This is not a request for authorization, but merely information,” insists Lahoud, adding that Parliament, if it wishes, can decide to suspend the proceedings based on a report drafted by a joint commission.
Hajj questions the timing of this move. He notes that the judge did not undertake this action during the summonses addressed to his client on June 13 and 27. But a lawyer for the families of victims retorted that these two sessions were not intended for interrogation, but to rule on procedural exceptions that Zeaiter had raised as early as 2021.
During Friday’s hearing, Bitar rejected these procedural exceptions. His delay in deciding was explained by the fact that the Court of Cassation’s prosecutor’s office, to which he had transmitted these appeals for advice, had not yet given an opinion.
Hajj asserts that the prosecutor’s office eventually rendered an opinion estimating that Bitar was not competent, and that only the High Court responsible for judging presidents and ministers could seize the case. However, this opinion is not binding, and the investigating judge chose to diverge from it, declaring himself competent to continue the procedure.
A lawyer close to the victims’ families further questioned why the Prosecutor’s Office issued an opinion that only the High Court can judge ministers and former ministers, while the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Jamal Hajjar, is currently conducting judicial proceedings against two former members of Najib Mikati’s previous government, Amine Salam and Georges Bouchikian, in corruption cases.
'Inextinguishable anger' of the victims’ families
Gathered Friday not far from the port for their monthly sit-in held on the 4th of each month, the Association of Families of Port Victims in Beirut reminded that next month will mark the 5th anniversary of the explosion. “Fifty-nine months have passed since the terrible explosion that claimed the lives of martyrs and victims [...] Fifty-nine months of inextinguishable anger,” the families’ statement emphasized.
The victims’ relatives also criticized the candidacy of former Attorney General Ghassan Oueidat to the Constitutional Council. Oueidat had prohibited, in January 2023, the prosecution and judicial police from cooperating with Bitar regarding the port investigation. This prohibition was lifted on March 10, 2025, after 26 months of obstacles.
The families accused Oueidat of “blatantly violating the law and abusing the authority conferred to him.” “Is it reasonable that someone who did not respect the laws he was supposed to enforce would examine the constitutionality of laws? We call on the people’s representatives and the ministers who will appoint the ten members of the Constitutional Council to understand the responsibility of this council and how much its members must be above all suspicion,” the statement reads.
The Association of Families of Port Victims also called to preserve the port silos, “the main witnesses of what happened and the crime that struck Beirut and its population.” “Some are seeking to eliminate this monument, a witness to the largest non-nuclear explosion in history. Anyone seeking to make it disappear is actually trying to erase the traces of the crime and the responsibility of its perpetrators. We will not remain silent on this point, with the support of civil society,” the families declared.
Finally, the statement emphasized that the battle of the victims’ relatives “is carried out against part of the corrupt political class that has hampered the investigation and justice.”
The Assembly of Relatives of Victims and the Injured from the Beirut Port, which opposes Judge Bitar's work, also organized a sit-in on Friday in Beirut, calling on the investigating judge to issue “a full indictment.” It also revealed that the Minister of Health, Rakan Nassereddine, agreed to cover the treatment costs for the injured from the double explosion through the ministry, even if they are already covered by the National Social Security Fund (CNSS).