Lebanese want transparent, international probe into Beirut blast

BEIRUT: A long history of high-level impunity in Lebanon has pushed many of the country’s citizens at home and abroad to call for an international probe into the Aug 4 port blast, a demand now backed by Western powers and rights groups.

But Lebanese authorities have rejected such a proposal, favouring instead a local investigation that has so far yielded the arrest of some 25 people.

They include the head of the Beirut port and its customs director but not a single official in government or parliament.

Elie Hasrouty, who lost his father to the blast, is one of at least 1,228 grieving Lebanese preparing to file a lawsuit against the state.

The young computer engineer said going to court will not bring his father back but it could go some way towards preventing similar disasters from happening again.

“We are pursuing legal action for the people who remain in this country and who want to live in it with dignity,” he told AFP.

Hasrouty’s father, Ghassan, was among the more than 190 people killed in the mega-blast, authorities say was caused by a large stockpile of ammonium nitrate blowing up.

The explosion, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history, also wounded at least 6,500 people and ravaged swathes of Beirut.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and French experts have been assisting Lebanon authorities in a probe on the cause for the blast almost seven weeks later.

Amnesty International recently said an “international fact-finding mechanism” is the only way to “guarantee victims’ rights to truth, justice and remedy”.

But the government has instead referred the investigation to “the Judicial Council, a court ... whose proceedings inherently lack independence and impartiality”, Amnesty said.

With political forces routinely exercising influence over judges to bypass accountability, the ruling elite have been told to “leave the judiciary alone”.

“A crime of this scale cannot be caught up in political disputes,” Bar Association head Melhem Khalaf said.

Hasrouty said the point of legal action was not “retaliation” against the authorities, whose negligence and corruption are widely blamed for the blast but rather to address the underlying conditions that led to the disaster.

“We need to determine who is responsible as well as all behaviour that led to this situation, so that the issue is addressed and proper measures are taken to deter similar conduct in the future,” he said.

“What’s the use of ... prosecuting those who will be found guilty if (official) conduct does not change?” he added. – AFP