EX-PM on Beirut blast charge

LEBANON’S former prime minister has been charged with homicide over the death of 220 people in the Beirut port explosion of 2020.

Hassan Diab and other senior officials have been accused of negligence over the storage of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded in the Lebanese capital two years ago.

Ghassan Oueidat, the prosecutor general, and other senior officials were also charged after Judge Tarek Bitar unexpectedly announced he was resuming his investigation. All have previously denied wrongdoing. The country’s prosecution service was quick to reject the indictment of Mr Oueidat, stating that Judge Bitar’s investigation remained suspended.

It is understood Mr Oueidat oversaw an inquiry into the danger of storing several hundred tons of ammonium nitrate at the port in 2019.

The disaster raised questions of accountability at the highest levels of government but Lebanon’s ruling elite have hindered the investigation.

Judge Bitar’s case had been halted for 13 months by legal challenges and Hizbollah has called for him to be replaced.