Why survivors of 2020 Beirut port blast have lost faith in Lebanese-led inquiry

Special Why survivors of 2020 Beirut port blast have lost faith in Lebanese-led inquiry
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The massive explosion that hit Beirut Port two years ago has sparked shortages of essential items that continue to this day. (AFP file photo)
Special Why survivors of 2020 Beirut port blast have lost faith in Lebanese-led inquiry
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This file photo shows a view of the Lebanese capital Beirut with its grain silos on May 24, 2020, months before the catastrophic August 4 , 2020 explosion. (AFP)
Special Why survivors of 2020 Beirut port blast have lost faith in Lebanese-led inquiry
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In this July 29, 2022 photo, smoke rises from what was left of Beirut's iconic grain silos after the Aug 4, 2020 explosion. Fire hit the remaining silos last month. (AFP)
Special Why survivors of 2020 Beirut port blast have lost faith in Lebanese-led inquiry
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What remains of the silos in the port of Beirut after the massive Aug. 4, 2020, burn on July 14, 2022 in a fire linked to rising temperatures. (AFP)
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Updated 04 August 2022

Why survivors of 2020 Beirut port blast have lost faith in Lebanese-led inquiry

Why survivors of 2020 Beirut port blast have lost faith in Lebanese-led inquiry
  • Despairing and demoralized, families of victims are turning to foreign courts
  • Many oppose govt. plan to demolish port’s grain silos before completion of full inquiry

DUBAI: Two years ago, on Aug. 4, 2020, Ghassan Hasrouty walked into his office at the port of Beirut where he had worked a steady job for the past 38 years. He would not return home that day.

At 6:07 p.m. local time, hundreds of tons of hazardously stored ammonium nitrate ignited in Warehouse 12 where Hasrouty was working. He and several of his colleagues were killed instantly.

The third biggest non-nuclear explosion ever recorded in history devastated the port and a whole district of the Lebanese capital.

At least 220 people were killed, more than 7,000 wounded, and a city already in the throes of economic and political crisis was left paralyzed under a mushroom cloud of pink smoke.

“The investigation of the port explosion will be transparent. Take five days, and any officials involved will be held accountable,” Mohammed Fahmi, Lebanon’s interior minister at the time, said after the blast.

And yet, two years on, as families still reel from the loss of their homes, businesses and loved ones, the official Lebanese state’s investigation remains stagnant.

On July 31, part of the port’s now grimly iconic grain silos collapsed, sending a cloud of dust over the capital, reviving traumatic memories of the blast.

The Lebanese Cabinet recently approved plans for the controlled demolition of the silos, which were badly damaged but miraculously survived the 2020 blast, having sustained much of its force.




Plans to demolish what remained of Beirut's grains silos has sparked outrage among victims’ support groups, who want the structures preserved until a full probe into the blast is concluded. (AFP)

The decision has sparked outrage among Beirut residents and victims’ support groups who have called for the silos to be preserved until a full and proper investigation into the blast is concluded.

Many place the blame for the blast and its aftermath on corruption and mismanagement within the Lebanese government.

With a status quo originating from the days of the 1975 to 1990 civil war, which has rendered those in power effectively untouchable, the inquiry has descended into little more than a finger-pointing match as it moves from one presiding judge to the next.

With that, politicians have effectively ensured the complete impunity of officials who have long been wanted for questioning, arrest and prosecution.




Supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal movement burn a portrait of Judge Tarek Bitar, the Beirut blast lead investigator, during a gathering in October 2021 to demand the Judge's dismissal. (AFP)

Officials potentially implicated in the blast have filed more than 25 requests demanding the dismissal of Judge Tarek Bitar and others involved in overseeing the inquiry.

Judge Bitar had charged four former senior officials with intentional negligence resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people in the explosion.

In response, some of the suspects have filed legal complaints against the judge, which led to the near-total suspension of the investigation in December 2021.

Two of these officials, Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaaiter, were just reelected as members of parliament.

“After seeing how the officials reacted after the blast, I know the path for justice is going to be long. Two years in, all the corrupt state is doing is just blocking investigations and escaping justice,” Tatiana Hasrouty, Ghassan’s daughter, told Arab News.




Relatives of victims of the Beirut port blast voice their anger. (AFP)

“This corruption is well rooted and was on full display when the director general of the Internal Security Forces, Maj. Gen. Imad Othman, was observed in the presence of Ghazi Zaaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil — two men he was supposed to be issuing arrest warrants against but did nothing instead,” she said.

“My father deserves better than this, and we, as his family, as Lebanese citizens, and as those affected by the blast, deserve to know who did this to us and why. I would not want it to happen to anyone. Nobody deserves to live through this kind of pain.”

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Despairing and demoralized, survivors and the families of victims have turned to courts outside Lebanon in pursuit of justice.

Alongside local and international organizations, they have called on the UN Human Rights Council to put forward a resolution at its upcoming session in September to create an independent and impartial “fact-finding mission” to get to the bottom of the matter.

It is hoped that such an investigation will record the facts, assess the aftermath, determine the root causes of the explosion and establish individual responsibility.

“We’ve been working with the victims and survivors since September 2020 on this request,” Antonia Mulvey, executive director of Legal Action Worldwide and power of attorney for a number of blast survivors, told Arab News. 

 

 

“While a domestic investigation is preferable, we understand that the system in Lebanon is very flawed and is incapable of delivering truth when it entails standing up to senior members of government.

“If the resolution is passed, UN members can be deployed on a time-bound mission of one year to support and assist the criminal investigation. The only thing blocking the resolution from passing is France and we cannot work out why.

Mulvey believes that French President Emmanuel Macron’s statements and visit to Lebanon following the blast have, paradoxically, become an impediment to the delivery of justice.




French President Emmanuel Macron (C), surrounded by Lebanese servicemen, visits the devastated site of the explosion at the port of Beirut on August 6, 2020, two days after a massive explosion. (AFP)

After arriving in Lebanon just two days after the explosion, Macron said that “an international, open and transparent probe is needed to prevent things from remaining hidden and doubt from creeping in.”

Many hoped that this call signaled a shift from the traditional French policy of propping up Lebanon’s political class. But now they fear the politicians have been thrown a lifeline by Macron’s “road map” toward reform.

Critics of French actions at the UN Human Rights Council say they stand in stark contrast to the commitments Macron made to the port blast victims.

Mulvey says the situation is intolerable because the slow pace of justice is compounding the grief of the survivors and the families of the victims.




Injured people are treated at a hospital in Beirut following an explosion near the capital city's on August 4, 2020. (AFP)

“One hundred and twenty survivors and victims describe to me how every day is like torture to them. They can’t move on but have no choice but to move forward, particularly those who lost their children,” she said.

“The memorial coming up doesn’t make much of a difference when every day is difficult. We have allegations against senior government and security officials. We must have hope and fight for this. If we don’t, we will still be looking at the same situation 20 and 30 years down the line.”

Another lawsuit has been filed in the US state of Texas by nine Lebanese American plaintiffs and relatives of victims of the blast.

Seeking $250 million in compensation, the lawsuit, launched by the Swiss foundation Accountability Now, was filed against US-Norwegian firms, such as TGS, which are suspected of being involved in bringing the explosive materials to the port.




Support groups for victims of the Beirut Port blast of Aug. 4, 2020 are taking legal actions against everyone responsible, including Lebanese politicians who have been trying muzzle judicial proceedings. (HRW photo)

“This lawsuit will help circumvent the muzzling of the Lebanese judiciary,” Zena Wakim, co-counsel to the plaintiffs and board president of Accountability Now, told Arab News.

“Through the powerful tool of discovery, the victims will unveil the network of corruption that made the blast possible. The politicians have filed removal requests against the judges who could have ruled over their motions to dismiss. They filed a claim against the Lebanese state for gross negligence of Judge Bitar,” effectively freezing the proceedings.

Wakim added: “Although the victims had all recognized the need to give the Lebanese judiciary a chance, they have now come to the conclusion that justice will never happen in Lebanon. Justice needs to be sought elsewhere, in any other possible jurisdiction, through whatever available legal avenues.”

The disregard shown by Lebanese authorities toward survivors and the families of victims manifests not only in the efforts to impede the investigation. Hasrouty recalls the struggle of trying to locate her father’s body, which took almost two weeks after the blast.

After several days, the Lebanese Army called off the search for Ghassan Hasrouty’s remains and those of other people lost in the rubble.




Tatiana Hasrouty and her father Ghassan who died in the blast. (Supplied)

“Nobody talked about them, the people who worked at the silos. The authorities did not want to search for them until we pressured them to,” Tatiana Hasrouty told Arab News.

“My brother was provided maps by my father’s colleagues who survived, and they worked day in, day out, trying to locate the bodies.

“We used to go to the port every day waiting for some news and to visit every hospital. On Aug. 18, my brother got the only official call saying that his DNA matched a body that was found. My father and six of his colleagues were under the rubble of the silos.”

 

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El-Sisi starts Africa tour in Angola

El-Sisi starts Africa tour in Angola
Updated 16 sec ago

El-Sisi starts Africa tour in Angola

El-Sisi starts Africa tour in Angola
  • Lourenco said that the relations between the two countries were important
  • During the tour, El-Sisi will hold a series of talks with the leaders on cooperation and address concerns on the continent

CAIRO: Abdel Fattah El-Sisi arrived on Wednesday in Angola at the start of a tour that also includes Zambia and Mozambique.
El-Sisi, the first Egyptian president to visit Angola, met his counterpart Joao Lourenco in Luanda and witnessed the signing of a number of agreements between the two countries.
Lourenco said that the relations between the two countries were important.
Ahmad Fahmy, a spokesman for the Egyptian presidency, said that El-Sisi’s tour in southern Africa shows the country is “keen to intensify communication and coordination with its African brothers and to cultivate closer cooperation at the economic, trade, and investment levels.”
During the tour, El-Sisi will hold a series of talks with the leaders on cooperation and address concerns on the continent.
El-Sisi will attend the 22nd summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa during his visit to the Zambian capital, Lusaka. Zambia is taking the rotating chairmanship from Egypt.
In April, Ahmed Samir, Egypt’s minister of trade and industry, announced that the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the African markets amounted to $2.117 billion during the first quarter of this year.
The value of Egypt’s exports to Angola increased in 2022 by 14.4 percent compared to the year 2012, according to a statement from the central agency for public mobilization and statistics.
Egypt’s exports to Angola in 2022 amounted to $22.9 million, compared to $20 million in 2021.


Lawyer and diplomat Abda Sharif named as UK’s new ambassador to Yemen

Lawyer and diplomat Abda Sharif named as UK’s new ambassador to Yemen
Updated 21 min 43 sec ago

Lawyer and diplomat Abda Sharif named as UK’s new ambassador to Yemen

Lawyer and diplomat Abda Sharif named as UK’s new ambassador to Yemen
  • Her previous diplomatic posts include spells as Britain’s deputy ambassador to Lebanon and as head of the UK’s mission in Benghazi, Libya
  • Following the start of the war in Yemen in late 2014, the UK closed its embassy in Sanaa and transferred its ambassador and staff to Riyadh

AL-MUKALLA: British authorities have appointed lawyer and diplomat Abda Sharif as the UK’s new ambassador to Yemen.
She will take up her post in September and succeeds Richard Oppenheim, who will move to another diplomatic role, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.
Sharif’s most recent position was head of the Iraq and Arabian Peninsula Department in the Middle East and North Africa Directorate at the FCDO. Between 2012 and 2016, she served as deputy ambassador to Lebanon. Before that, in 2011, she led the UK Office in Benghazi, Libya.
“Delighted to be the next UK Ambassador to #Yemen. Look forward to returning to the Middle East, and to working with the excellent @UKinYemen,” Sharif said in a message posted on Twitter, referring to the UK’s embassy in the country.
Following the start of the war in Yemen in late 2014, the UK closed its embassy in Sanaa and transferred its ambassador and staff to Riyadh.
Sharif’s appointment comes at a time when the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and the international community, including the UK, are stepping up pressure on the Yemeni government and the Houthis to reach an agreement that can end the long-running civil war.
Extensive international efforts have so far failed to persuade the Houthis to formally renew a long-term UN-brokered cease-fire, after a temporary truce expired in October of last year, or to end their drone and missile attacks on oil facilities in government-controlled provinces, which have halted exports that provide the country’s main source of income.
The Houthis have said they will only cease their attacks on the facilities if the Yemeni government shares oil revenues with them and pays public employees in areas they control.
Meanwhile, the militia have launched drone and ground attacks in government-controlled territories across the country over the past 48 hours.
Residents in besieged Taiz said on Tuesday that a Houthi sniper killed a man as he walked through a small village in the city’s Saber district. Saeed Ahmed Abdullah, 43, reportedly died on the way to the hospital.
Sporadic fighting between the Houthis and government forces has been reported in a number of contested areas outside of Taiz. Residents of the city have long complained that a UN-brokered truce has neither halted arbitrary bombardments and ground attacks by the Houthis, nor eased the militia’s siege of the city.


US vice president Kamala Harris: Israel needs ‘independent judiciary’

US vice president Kamala Harris: Israel needs ‘independent judiciary’
Updated 07 June 2023

US vice president Kamala Harris: Israel needs ‘independent judiciary’

US vice president Kamala Harris: Israel needs ‘independent judiciary’
  • Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen: Harris was perhaps not fully informed about the details of the judicial changes his government was seeking

WASHINGTON: US vice president Kamala Harris said on Tuesday that Israel’s democracy requires “an independent judiciary,” wading into the controversy over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul that has drawn mass protests in Israel.
“America will continue to stand for the values that have been the bedrock of the US-Israel relationship, which includes continuing to strengthen our democracies, which as the (Israeli) ambassador has said, are both built on strong institutions, checks and balances, and I’ll add: an independent judiciary,” Harris said.
The vice president spoke at a reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding hosted by the country’s embassy in Washington. Her remarks on the judiciary drew applause.
Harris also reiterated the Biden administration’s “ironclad commitment to the security of Israel.”
Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen said Harris was perhaps not fully informed about the details of the judicial changes his government was seeking, which were intended, he said, to ensure a strong and independent judiciary which was more balanced.
“If you ask her what troubles her about the reform, she may not be able to cite even one clause that bothers her,” Cohen told Israel’s public broadcaster Kansas “I don’t know whether she read the bill, my estimation is that she has not.”
Weeks of unprecedented street demonstrations followed Netanyahu’s proposed package of reforms of the Supreme Court, which members of his religious-nationalist coalition accuse of overreach and elitism.
Under pressure at home and abroad, including from US President Joe Biden’s administration, Netanyahu has suspended the overhaul to try to negotiate a consensus with the political opposition.
Critics see a threat to independence of the courts by the prime minister, who is on trial on graft charges that he denies.
Top economists and national security veterans have warned of fallout, saying an independent court system is crucial to Israel’s democratic norms and economic strength.
Before Harris spoke, Israeli president Isaac Herzog said in a video address to the crowd that he planned to visit the White House and address a joint session of the US Congress “in the near future.” The trip is expected in July.
Biden has yet to extend a White House invitation to Netanyahu, despite Israel’s status as a key Middle East ally.
The two leaders have had chilly relations since Biden took office. Biden had pressed Netanyahu in recent months to drop the judicial overhaul plan.
Netanyahu, who was prime minister for three years in the 1990s and then from 2009 to 2021, took office again in December to start his sixth term.


Turkiye jails teen who added moustache to Erdogan poster

Turkiye jails teen who added moustache to Erdogan poster
Updated 07 June 2023

Turkiye jails teen who added moustache to Erdogan poster

Turkiye jails teen who added moustache to Erdogan poster
  • He was arrested after being identified by CCTV cameras

ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities on Tuesday seized and jailed a 16-year-old youth for drawing a moustache on an election campaign poster showing re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, media reports said.
Several media close to the opposition, including daily newspapers BirGun, Cumhuriyet and private TV station Halk TV, said the youth from the southeastern town of Mersin was accused of defacing the poster near his home with a pen, scribbling “a Hitler moustache and writing insulting comments.”
He was arrested after being identified by CCTV cameras, media reports said. Authorities interviewed him at his home where he reportedly “admitted drawing the moustache” while denying writing the accompanying comments.
Taken before the public prosecutor he was found to have “insulted the president” and was jailed at a nearby youth facility, according to Halk TV.
Erdogan extended his 20-year rule over Turkiye after winning the May 28 second round of the presidential election to embark on a new five-year term.
According to the justice ministry, “insulting the president” is one of the most common crimes in Turkiye, resulting in 16,753 convictions last year.


Short of animals, Gaza Zoo fights to survive

Short of animals, Gaza Zoo fights to survive
Updated 06 June 2023

Short of animals, Gaza Zoo fights to survive

Short of animals, Gaza Zoo fights to survive
  • Two of Gaza’s zoos have closed

GAZA: Large paintings of a bear, an elephant and a giraffe decorate the outer walls of NAMA Zoo in Gaza City, but none of these wild creatures is represented live among those caged inside.

Six years ago, the lone tiger died, and despite visitors’ frequent demands for a replacement, the owners have not been able to afford to buy or feed a new one.

There were once six zoos in Gaza, a narrow coastal enclave which has been closed off behind security walls since 2007.

But with the economy crippled by a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt, two of the zoos have closed.

“Because of the lack of resources and capabilities and the high prices of animals it is difficult to replace an animal you lose,” said Mahmoud Al-Sultan, the medical supervisor of the NAMA zoo.

The original animals at the zoo were smuggled through tunnels from Egypt over a decade ago. 

As well as four pairs of lions, each of which goes through 60 kg of meat a week, the zoo has crocodiles, hyenas, foxes, deer and monkeys, as well as a lone ibex and a solitary wolf.

At the lions’ cages, children stand to take pictures from a distance and giggle as they touch the bars on the cages of deer and birds. 

A ticket costs less than $1 because people can’t afford more, Sultan said.

“I come here to have some fun, but I see the same animals every time,” said nine-year-old Fouad Saleh. “I wish I could see an elephant, a giraffe or a tiger.”

For the moment, that appears unlikely. Gaza lacks the medical facilities to treat animals like lions and tigers.

In the past, the Four Paws international animal welfare group has had to rescue animals and find them new homes in Israel, Jordan or as far away as South Africa.

“We struggle to afford the food,” said Sultan. “Sometimes we provide frozen food, chicken, turkeys, and sometimes if a donkey is injured we have it slaughtered and shared out between the lions.”