Lebanon ex-PM, 2 former ministers charged in Beirut blast probe

Other top officials, including the country’s public prosecutor and the head of the domestic intelligence agency, were also charged in connection with the blast, judicial sources said on Tuesday.

Judge Tarek Bitar, who has unexpectedly resumed an inquiry that has been paralysed by high-level political resistance, has scheduled questioning with Prosecutor General Ghassan Oweidat for February.

Pierre Gemayel, brother of a victim, told Al Jazeera that he was surprised but also happy with Bitar’s move.

“It is not normal [that for] more than one year the investigation is blocked; now we have a little hope that something is moving on,” he added.

Bitar’s efforts to interrogate top officials over the explosion, which killed at least 218 people and shattered parts of Beirut, have been hindered by factions including Hezbollah.

Bitar charged Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon’s domestic intelligence agency, and Major General Tony Saliba, head of another security body, in connection with the blast as well as former army commander Jean Kahwaji, judicial officials stated, without specifying the charges.

However, the public prosecutor’s office has disputed Bitar’s authority to issue the charges. Differing opinions within the judiciary over whether Bitar was allowed to resume his probe mean that some of his decisions could go unimplemented, analysts say.

Amnesty International’s Aya Majzoub noted that the public prosecutor’s decision was another indication of Lebanon’s political establishment uniting to prevent the pursuit of justice in the case of Beirut blast.

“We have not seen government officials or judicial officials engage in serious manner with legal arguments Bitar has made – effectively blocking the continuation of investigation,” she told Al Jazeera.

Judicial sources told Reuters interrogations have been scheduled for February for 15 people, including the top security officials, Oweidat, two former ministers and Diab.

All those previously charged by Bitar have denied wrongdoing.

The explosion on August 4, 2020, was caused by hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored at the port in poor conditions since it had been unloaded in 2013. So far, no senior official has been held to account.

Bitar met French judges visiting Beirut last week as part of a French investigation into the explosion, whose victims included two French nationals. He was unable to share documents with them because the investigation was frozen.

Politicians whom Bitar had sought to question, including Hezbollah allies, made dozens of legal challenges disputing his right to interrogate them and saying he had overstepped his powers.

The investigation was paralysed in early 2022 by the retirement of judges from a court that had to rule on several such complaints against Bitar before he could continue.

The court has been awaiting the appointment of new judges to resume its work, a step authorities have not taken.

Bitar resumed work on the basis of a legal interpretation challenging the reasons for his suspension, the judicial sources said.

According to the correspondence seen by Reuters, however, the public prosecutor’s office told Bitar on Tuesday that he remained suspended.

Hezbollah has campaigned against Bitar as he sought to question its allies and has accused Washington of meddling in the investigation. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has called for Bitar to be replaced.