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Lebanon judge issues arrest warrant for MP over port blast

BEIRUT —
The Lebanese decide main the investigation into final yr’s large explosion at Beirut’s port issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for a former Cupboard minister after he didn’t present up for questioning, the state-run Nationwide Information Company stated.

Shortly afterward, the decide was notified that the previous minister and one other former authorities member had formally requested a court docket to interchange the decide, who now has to droop the investigation till a ruling on him comes out.

The developments had been the newest twists within the saga of the troubled probe into the large August 2020 blast at Beirut’s port that killed 215 folks, injured 1000’s and devastated whole neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital.

Choose Tarek Bitar, who’s main the investigation, issued an arrest warrant for Ali Hassan Khalil, Lebanon’s former finance minister and present member of parliament. It wasn’t instantly clear if Khalil could be arrested.

The choice got here hours after the top of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group escalated his assault on the decide, calling on authorities on Monday to interchange Bitar with a “truthful and clear” investigator.

Khalil, an in depth Hezbollah ally, was amongst officers who challenged Bitar within the courts, saying the decide was biased and calling for him to get replaced. He had beforehand declined to look for questioning.

Final month, Choose Bitar issued an arrest warrant for former Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos, who stays at massive.

Lebanon is a small nation infamous for corruption the place a tradition of impunity has prevailed for many years, together with among the many entrenched political elites.

As a legislator, Khalil has parliamentary immunity however Tuesday’s transfer by Bitar got here because the immunity was briefly lifted for lawmakers till Oct. 19, when parliament goes into session once more.

Bitar has charged Khalil and three different former senior authorities officers with intentional killing and negligence that led to the deaths of scores of individuals within the port explosion.

Tons of of tons of ammonium nitrate, a extremely explosive materials utilized in fertilizers that had been improperly saved within the port for years, detonated in what was probably the most damaging single incident in Lebanon’s troubled historical past.

Bitar was appointed in February by a authorities physique to guide the investigation. A court docket dominated to take away Bitar’s predecessor after he confronted related accusations of bias from former officers.

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