Lebanon's caretaker PM and ex-ministers charged over Beirut blast
A prosecutor has charged Lebanon’s acting prime minister and three former ministers in connection with the port blast that killed more than 200 people and disfigured the heart of Beirut, in a rare move against the country’s ruling elite.
The charges come four months after the catastrophic explosion on 4 August and amid fears that there has been little progress in the investigation into what caused it. Caretaker PM, Hassan Diab, and former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil, Ghazi Zaiter and Youssef Fenianos were accused of failing to respond to warnings ahead of the disaster that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely at the port posed a growing danger to residents.
Up to 30 port officials had been detained as part of the investigation, which was launched amid seething public anger at Lebanon’s politicians and their role in leading the country to the point of economic oblivion – a scenario made even more likely by multibillion dollar losses caused by the blast.
Despite the roundup, fears remain throughout the country that political fiefdoms may still stymie attempts to unravel how and why such a combustible stockpile came to be stored on the edge of the capital and who ultimately allowed it to happen.
Diab, who had been prime minister for 10 months when the explosion happened, and remains in a caretaker role after resigning days later, said his “conscience was clear”. His office said: “He is confident that his hands are clean and that he has handled the Beirut port blast file in a responsible and transparent manner.”
Investigating prosecutor Fadi Sawan said he would seek to interrogate Diab next week. It is not clear if the latter will agree to a meeting. Representatives of two of the ministers charged indicated they may use parliamentary immunity to avoid judicial scrutiny. Two of those charged are from the political bloc of the powerful Speaker of the Lebanese parliament.
The spectacle of a Lebanese leader being questioned in a judicial setting would mark a first for Lebanon, where politically sensitive investigations typically remain unsolved. It remains unclear whether local security forces would be prepared to bring senior officials to a meeting, if they refused to attend voluntarily.
A senior legal source said Sawan had asked for parliamentary support to lay the charges, but received no response. On Wednesday, he approached the Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, who approved his proposed move.
Diab is the only one of four prime ministers in office since the nitrate ar
rived in Beirut in late 2013 to have been charged in connection with it. The stockpile remained a contentious issue for the three other leaders – all established political figures, unlike Diab, who was picked from academia in October 2019.
Beirut port had long been a microcosm of Lebanon’s dysfunction and the fiefdoms created by its corrupt politicians, who all took a stake in the bulk and cargo terminals and a cut of revenues. All senior bureaucrats were political appointments who maintained the system at the behest of sect leaders.
The nitrate was seized from a Russian freighter, which had made an unscheduled stop in Beirut while en route to Mozambique to deliver the load to a mining company. The circumstances of the seizure and who became the beneficiary of it are central to investigations, which have so far been conducted in secrecy.
The blast was caused by the ignition of the stockpile, which is believed to have taken place after workers were using a welder to close a broken warehouse door. The warehouse, known as hangar 12, had been used to store dangerous and flammable material seized from cargo ships.
The force of the massive explosion destroyed half of the port and caused vast damage across the eastern half of the city and downtown districts, many of which remain ravaged and barricaded four months on.
There have been repeated calls for an international probe into the causes of the blast and the political decisons made in the years before it took place. The powerful military group, cum political bloc, Hezbollah, retains significant influence at the port and has a decisive hand in much of the affairs of state. It has strongly denied that it controlled the stockpile and has launched legal action against two MPs who claimed that the nitrate was stored for its benefit.