Lebanese court removes judge from Beirut port explosion case

Lebanon’s highest court has removed the judge overseeing the Beirut port explosion investigation, following a legal complaint by two former ministers who had been charged with criminal negligence in the probe.

Victims of the disaster said the removal of Judge Fadi Sawan was the latest blow in their already six-month-old hunt for justice. The blast, in which more than 200 people died, was one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history.

“They’re killing our children twice,” said Mireille Khoury, whose 15-year-old son Elias was among those killed. “Now it’s an unofficial declaration of stopping the investigation.”

Local media reported that the Court of Cassation, which issued the decision to remove Sawan, ruled that his neutrality could be compromised because his home was among the thousands damaged in the blast.

Sawan upset Lebanon’s unpopular political establishment in December by attempting to bring in three former ministers and caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab for questioning as suspects in the case — they refused to attend — and charging them with criminal negligence.

The former ministers accused Sawan of violating the constitution, and a string of politicians, including prime minister designate Saad Hariri, publicly denounced Sawan’s move.

Removing Sawan “because of a complaint filed by two politicians he charged makes a mockery of justice and is an insult to the victims of the blast”, tweeted Aya Majzoub, Lebanon researcher for Human Rights Watch, adding: “We are back to square one.”

The explosion was caused by 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been improperly stored at the port in the heart of the capital for six years. The judicial investigation is seeking to uncover and charge those responsible, but it has hit numerous hurdles and inspired little public confidence in a country where accountability is rare.

“The state of exception and impunity wins again,” tweeted Nizar Saghieh, executive director of Beirut-based advocacy group The Legal Agenda.

Families of victims protested at the decision outside Beirut’s Justice Palace on Thursday, holding pictures of the dead and slogans demanding transparency. “Who brought in the nitrate and on whose account?” read one sign. “We have the right to know.”

“The judge that was dismissed was trying to do his best,” said Paul Naggear, whose three-year-old daughter Alexandra died from injuries sustained in the blast. He added that Sawan’s expulsion left “no other path to justice” apart from an international inquiry.

The challenge against Sawan was brought by Ghazi Zaiter, former public works and transportation minister, and Ali Hassan Khalil, former finance minister. Khalil was sanctioned by the US Treasury last year over allegations of corruption and providing “material support” to political and paramilitary group Hizbollah, which Washington has designated a terrorist organisation.

Sawan had indicted Diab and the two politicians as suspects, along with Yussef Fenianos, former transportation and public works minister, who is also on the US sanctions list.

Families of the victims have called for an international probe into the blast. A years-long international tribunal set up to investigate the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri concluded last year, a rare example of a major crime in Lebanon being fully investigated.

“Is prime minister Hariri’s life more valuable than our children?” asked Khoury. “They deserve an international investigation as well. With all my respect . . . for the prime minister, I think our children are as precious to us as he is.”

Additional reporting by Asmaa al-Omar in Istanbul