RIGHTS GROUP ACCUSE LEBANESE GOV’T OF HAMPERED BEIRUT BLAST INVESTIGATION

Mon 02 August 2021:

The victims of the deadly Beirut explosion last August are still seeking justice, while the Lebanese authorities have spent the past year attempting to “shamelessly” block their attempts, according to a renowned international human rights organization.

The rights group, along with more than 50 Lebanese and foreign organizations, appealed the United Nations Human Rights Council in June, requesting that an international investigation into the blast be launched, as well as the dispatch of a one-year fact-finding mission.

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Roughly a year ago, the port of Beirut was rocked by a powerful blast, as 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate wiped out much of the port and surrounding neighborhoods, leaving over 200 people dead and thousands of others injured. Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the blast on August 4, Amnesty International said that the government did nothing to help the investigation into the incident.

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“Throughout the year, the Lebanese authorities’ relentless efforts to shield officials from scrutiny have repeatedly hampered the course of the investigation. Authorities dismissed the first judge appointed to the investigation after he summoned political figures for questioning, and have so far rejected the new investigative judge’s requests to lift MPs’ immunity and to question senior members of the security forces in connection with the tragedy,” the group said in a press release.

Instead of the promised swift investigation, the government has “brazenly blocked and stalled justice at every turn, despite a tireless campaign for justice and criminal accountability by survivors and families of victims,” Deputy Director for the middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International Lynn Maalouf was quoted as saying.

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