Lebanon Patriarch Rai says judge probing port blast must be allowed to pursue truth over Beirut blast

Share:
File photo : The northern section of the grain silos damaged by a deadly blast at the Beirut port has collapsed . The Aug 4, 2020 devastating explosions that rocked Lebanon was the result of the illegal storage of 2750 tons of Ammonium Nitrate at the port area . The silo protected the capital . If it wasn’t for the silos most of Beirut would have been leveled by the explosion. Only about a month’s worth of wheat can now be stored at a time in mills as a result of the blast that destroyed the country’s port, shredded its grain silos , killed over 245 people, injured about 7000 people and left 300, 000 homeless . The Iran backed Hezbollah militant group has been for months trying to get Judge Tarek Bitar who is investigating the blast fired , reportedly because it is concerned about exposing its role in supplying the Syrian government with the explosive chemical for use in its barrel bombs . As Lebanon runs out of wheat Hezbollah is being blamed for starving the Lebanese people for the sake of supplying Syria with the explosive chemical to kill more Syrian civilians.

Beirut – Lebanon’s top Christian cleric called on Sunday for the judge struggling to investigate the Beirut port explosion to be able to pursue his work and get help from any outside authority to pinpoint those responsible for the devastating blast.

Long-simmering tensions over the investigation have boiled over since Judge Tarek Bitar brought charges against some of the most influential people in Lebanon, defying political pressure to scrap the inquiry into the disaster that killed 245 people.

With friends and allies of Lebanon’s most powerful factions, including Hezbollah, among those charged, the establishment struck back swiftly last week when the prosecutor general charged Bitar with usurping powers.

Critics called it “a coup” against his investigation.

“We hope investigating Judge Tareq Bitar continues his work to uncover the truth and issue a decision and get help from any international authority that can help disclose the truth…,” Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, influential patriarch of Lebanon’s largest Christian community, said in a sermon.

The Aug. 4, 2020 blast was caused by hundreds of tonnes of improperly stored chemicals of which the president and prime minister at the time were aware, among other officials.

Bitar resumed his inquiry on Jan. 23 after a 13-month break caused by legal wrangling and high-level political pressure, issuing charges against a number of senior officials including top public prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat.

Oweidat rejected Bitar’s move and filed charges against him for allegedly mishandling the inquiry, as well as ordering the release of people detained in connection with the blast.

Rai has long said that Lebanon’s judiciary should be free of political interference and sectarian activism.

“We won’t allow however long it takes and rulers change to let the crime of the port pass without punishment.

Reuters

Share: