Bags of ammonium nitrate. (Illustrative photo: AFP)
BEIRUT — The Military Tribunal has acquitted businessman Maroun Sakr, an ally of the Lebanese Forces (LF), of "trading ammonium nitrate for the purpose of manufacturing explosives," according to the terms of the judgment, a copy of which L'Orient-Le Jour reviewed on Friday. Saadallah Solh, an agricultural fertilizer trader prosecuted in the same case, was also acquitted.
Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, Sakr's lawyer, Georges Khoury, recalled that the case dates back to October 2021. At the time, Solh was arrested in the Bekaa by the intelligence branch of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) after a van belonging to him and driven by a Syrian national was found carrying cargo initially suspected to be ammonium nitrate. During his interrogation, Solh named Sakr as his supplier, which led to Sakr's arrest.
According to Khoury, searches were then carried out by the ISF's intelligence branch in his client's warehouses under the supervision of former government commissioner to the Military Tribunal, Fadi Akiki. "The analyses of the samples, including residue taken from the walls, showed that it was not ammonium nitrate, but urea, a widely used nitrogen fertilizer," the lawyer stated. Despite these findings, both Sakr and Solh were held in detention.
The lawyer further argued that "since the Beirut port explosion on Aug. 4, 2020, the import of this type of merchandise has been subject to particularly strict controls, involving, among others, the ministries of Agriculture and Health, as well as the Army Command." It is worth recalling that ammonium nitrate is an agricultural fertilizer authorized in certain formulas, but products with high concentrations are strictly controlled due to their explosive potential.
After three weeks in detention, Sakr was released on bail by order of former military investigative judge Marcel Bassil. An appeal filed by Akiki before the Military Court of Cassation was then rejected. The case was ultimately reviewed by the Military Tribunal, presided over by Wassim Fayad, which rendered its judgment last July 3. A source familiar with the matter explained that the proceedings dragged on for several years due to repeated hearing postponements, often related to failures in notifying the parties involved.
Also contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, Solh's lawyer, Jocelyne Rai, emphasized that her client had also been acquitted. "The investigation showed that the seized goods were not of the same type as those that caused the Beirut port explosion. They were authorized products intended for agricultural use," she said.
The case had sparked a heated controversy in 2021. Financial prosecutor Ali Ibrahim initiated proceedings against Sakr for smuggling, hoarding of goods, money laundering, and customs code violations, after a cargo presented at the time as ammonium nitrate was seized in the Baalbeck region. The affair fueled a series of accusations exchanged between the LF, the Free Patriotic Movement, and Hezbollah, due to the national trauma caused by the Beirut port explosion, where 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored without safety precautions prior to the Aug. 4, 2020 disaster.
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