BEIRUT: A judge at Lebanon’s highest court suspended an arrest warrant against a former cabinet minister in the case of the massive 2020 Beirut port blast, officials said Tuesday.
Judge Sabbouh Suleiman of the Court of Cassation lifted the warrant against former public works minister, Youssef Fenianos, judicial officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
In 2021, Judge Tarek Bitar, who has led the investigation into the explosion, issued a warrant against Fenianos, who in turn asked for Bitar’s removal over “legitimate suspicion” of how he handled his case. The judge accused Fenianos and three other former senior government officials of intentional killing and negligence that led to the deaths of more than 200 people in the explosion.
Some politicians and security officials have also been asking for Bitar’s removal as anger and criticism by families of the victims and rights groups have grown as the investigation has been stalled for over a year.
Despite arrest warrants issued for cabinet ministers and heads of security agencies, no one has so far been detained amid political interference in the work of the judiciary.
The United States Treasury in September 2020 slapped sanctions on Fenianos and former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, accusing them of corruption and providing “material support” to the militant Hezbollah group. Bitar had also charged and pursued Khalil in the port blast probe with homicide and criminal negligence.
The Aug. 2020 blast — one of the world’s largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded — killed at least 218 people and more than 6,000 wounded, according to an Associated Press tally. It also devastated large swaths of Beirut and caused billions of dollars in damages.
More than three years later, there are still no answers to what triggered the explosion, and no one has been held accountable. Rights groups and local media revealed that most state officials knew of the presence of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers that had been improperly stored there for years, in the port.
Lebanon’s top court suspends arrest warrant for former cabinet minister in Beirut port blast case
https://arab.news/gf2dn
Lebanon’s top court suspends arrest warrant for former cabinet minister in Beirut port blast case
- Judge Sabbouh Suleiman of the Court of Cassation lifted the warrant against former public works minister, Youssef Fenianos
- Despite arrest warrants issued for cabinet ministers and heads of security agencies, no one has so far been detained amid political interference
Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s memoir recounts her journey after her son’s abduction by Hamas
- Random House announced Thursday that “When We See You Again” will be published April 26
- “I sat down to write my pain, and out poured loss, suffering, love, mourning, devotion, grief, adoration and fracturedness,” Goldberg-Polin said
NEW YORK: Rachel Goldberg-Polin, who has become known worldwide for her advocacy on behalf of her son and others abducted by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023, has a memoir coming out this spring.
Random House, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced Thursday that “When We See You Again” will be published April 26.
“I sat down to write my pain, and out poured loss, suffering, love, mourning, devotion, grief, adoration and fracturedness,” Goldberg-Polin, a Chicago-born educator who now lives in Jerusalem, said in a statement. “This book recounts the first steps of a million-mile odyssey that will take the rest of my life to walk on shattered feet.”
Goldberg-Polin also will narrate the audio edition of “When We See You Again.”
Her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was attending a southern Israel music festival when militants loaded him and other hostages onto the back of a pickup truck. Rachel Goldberg-Polin and her husband, Jon, traveled the world calling for the release of Hersh and others, meeting with President Joe Biden and Pope Francis, speaking at the United Nations and appearing at protest rallies. Each morning, she would write down on a piece of masking tape the number of days her son had been in captivity and stick it on her chest.
She continued her efforts after Israeli officials announced in September 2024 that the bodies of her son and five others had been found in an underground tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forensics experts said they had been shot at close range. Tens of thousands crowded into a Jerusalem cemetery as Hersh was laid to rest.
According to Random House, Rachel Goldberg-Polin will tell her story in “raw, unflinching, deeply moving prose.”
“She describes grief from within the midst of suffering, giving voice to the broken as she pours her pain, love, and longing onto the page,” announcement reads in part. “It is a story of how we remember and how we persevere, of how we suffer and how we love.”
