Judicial decision to seize properties of 2 deputies charged over Beirut blast

The Lebanese judiciary has ordered the temporary seizure of the properties of two MPs charged in connection with the Beirut Port explosion of 2020, according to a judicial source.

The source shared: “The head of the Beirut Execution Department, Judge Najah Itani, issued a precautionary attachment decision of £100 billion on the property of MPs Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaiter.”

The decision came under a lawsuit filed by the Beirut Bar Association’s Prosecution Office before the Civil First Instance Court in Beirut to question the two MPs, who previously held the positions of Minister of Finance (Khalil) and Minister of Public Works and Transport (Zaiter), for their: “Arbitrary use of the rights of defence and litigation, through filing lawsuits that impede the progress of the investigation. The Court ordered them compensation for this abuse of one hundred billion pounds.”

Following the Beirut Port explosion, the Beirut Bar Association’s Prosecution Office took charge of suing the state by filing lawsuits on behalf of nearly 1,400 families of the victims and those affected by the explosion.

Since filing lawsuits against them and other officials, the two MPs affiliated with the Amal Movement, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, filed several lawsuits to stop the judicial investigator, Judge Tariq Al-Bitar, from investigating the explosion.

The investigation caused a political division where major forces, most notably Hezbollah, objected to Judge Al-Bitar’s decisions and accused him of “politicising” the file.

The investigation into the explosion has been suspended since the end of December due to the lawsuits filed against Al-Bitar, sparking the anger of the victims’ families and human rights organisations.

On 4 August, 2020, the blast killed more than two hundred people and wounded more than 6,500 others, causing massive damage to the port and many of the capital’s neighbourhoods. In conjunction with Lebanon’s commemoration of the second anniversary of the explosion on Thursday, a demand for the United Nations to conduct an independent fact-finding mission was renewed after the disruption of the domestic investigation.

According to the authorities, the explosion occurred due to massive amounts of ammonium nitrate being stored inside the port without preventive measures. It was later found that officials at different levels were aware of the risks of keeping the substance and did not take action.

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