View of the destroyed silos at the port of Beirut and the skyline of the Lebanese capital, June 25, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Former public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Judge Ghassan Oueidat, did not appear at the interrogation session scheduled for Monday before investigating judge at the Court of Justice, Tarek Bitar, who had summoned him as part of his investigation into the explosion that occurred at Beirut Port on Aug. 4, 2020.
Judge Bitar decided to “not summon Judge Oueidat again and to postpone any decision regarding him until the indictment is issued,” in accordance with the approach adopted for “other people recently questioned,” reported the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
On July 11, Oueidat declined to appear. He had not been notified of the hearing by the judicial police and had been summoned via the Public Prosecution, according to a high-ranking judicial source cited by L’Orient-Le Jour. Judge Bitar then set a new hearing for July 21, 10 days later.
In January 2023, Oueidat prohibited the Public Prosecution and the judicial police from cooperating with Bitar in the port investigation. This ban was lifted on March 10, 2025, by the new public prosecutor, Jamal Hajjar, after 26 months of deadlock.
On July 4, it was Amal MP and former minister Ghazi Zeaiter who did not appear at his hearing, choosing to be represented by his lawyer, Samer al-Hajj. A new summons was set for July 18, which Zeaiter also failed to attend.
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. The blast was caused by a fire in a port warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored without precaution, despite repeated warnings to the highest authorities, who were accused of negligence.
Judge Bitar had to suspend his investigations in January 2023, faced with hostility from much of the political class, notably Hezbollah, as well as a series of legal actions brought against him. He resumed his investigation at the beginning of 2025 and has already questioned several former officials, including former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and former Interior Minister Nohad Mashnouk.
