BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday vowed that “justice is coming,” five years after a catastrophic explosion at Beirut’s port for which nobody has been held to account.
The blast on August 4, 2020 was one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions, devastating swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring over 6,500.
The explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been stored haphazardly for years after arriving by ship, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.
Aoun said that the Lebanese state “is committed to uncovering the whole truth, no matter the obstacles or how high the positions” involved.
“The law applies to all, without exception,” Aoun said in a statement.
Monday has been declared a day of national mourning, and rallies demanding justice are planned later in the day, converging on the port.
“The blood of your loved ones will not be in vain,” the president told victims’ families, adding: “Justice is coming, accountability is coming.”
After more than a two-year impasse following political and judicial obstruction, investigating judge Tarek Bitar has finished questioning defendants and suspects, a judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Bitar is waiting for some procedures to be completed and for a response to requests last month to several Arab and European countries for “information on specific incidents,” the official added, without elaborating.
The judge will then finalize the investigation and refer the file to the public prosecution for its opinion before he issues an indictment decision, the official said.
President Aoun said that “we are working with all available means to ensure the investigations are completed with transparency and integrity.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a former International Court of Justice judge, said on Sunday that knowing the truth and ensuring accountability were national issues, decrying decades of official impunity.
Bitar resumed his inquiry after Aoun and Salam took office this year pledging to uphold judicial independence, after the balance of power shifted following a devastating war between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
Bitar’s probe stalled after the Iran-backed group, long a dominant force in Lebanese politics but weakened by the latest war, had accused him of bias and demanded his removal.
Mariana Fodoulian from the association of victims’ families said that “for five years, officials have been trying to evade accountability, always thinking they are above the law.”
“We’re not asking for anything more than the truth,” she told AFP.
“We won’t stop until we get comprehensive justice.”
On Sunday, Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the port’s gutted and partially collapsed wheat silos would be included on a list of historic buildings.
Victims’ families have long demanded their preservation as a memorial of the catastrophe.
Lebanon president promises justice 5 years after Beirut port blast
https://arab.news/wkucv
Lebanon president promises justice 5 years after Beirut port blast
- The blast on August 4, 2020 was one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions, devastating swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring over 6,500
Lebanon approves release of former minister accused of corruption
- Salam is the only ex-minister to be arrested since the start of Lebanon’s economic crisis in 2019
- The official added that the bail was paid, with procedures ongoing to secure his release from prison
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s judiciary approved the release on bail of former economy minister Amin Salam on Tuesday after six months of detention over corruption linked to contracts deemed suspicious, a judicial official said.
Salam, who served in the cabinet of former prime minister Najib Mikati from 2021 to 2025, is the only ex-minister to be arrested since the start of Lebanon’s economic crisis in 2019.
The official, who requested anonymity, told AFP Lebanon’s judiciary “agreed to release former economy minister Amin Salam on bail of nine billion Lebanese pounds, equivalent to $100,000” and a travel ban.
The official added that the bail was paid, with procedures ongoing to secure his release from prison.
In June, another judicial official said Salam had been arrested in connection with alleged “falsification, embezzlement and suspicious contracts.”
Salam’s adviser Fadi Tamim was sentenced in 2023 to one year in prison for blackmail and personal enrichment at the expense of insurance companies.
The former minister’s brother Karim Salam was also arrested earlier this year in a “case of illicit enrichment, forgery and extortion of insurance companies,” committed “under cover of the minister himself,” the official said in June.
Many in Lebanon attribute the economic crisis to mismanagement and corruption that has plagued state institutions for decades.
President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who both took office this year, have vowed to make the fight against endemic corruption a priority, as part of the reforms demanded by international donors.
Both have vowed to uphold the independence of the judiciary and prevent interference in its work, in a country plagued by official impunity.
In September, former central bank governor Riad Salameh, who faces numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion, was released after being detained for over a year by paying a record bail of more than $14 million.
