BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanon’s top prosecutor Wednesday ordered all suspects detained in the investigation into the deadly 2020 port blast in Beirut released, a lawyer for two detainees and judicial officials said.
The move by chief prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat is another blow to the investigation, which has stalled for years.
The decision came after Judge Tarek Bitar on Monday resumed the investigation into the devastating port blast, following a 13-month halt over legal challenges raised by politicians accused in the probe — including the chief prosecutor.
Bitar in a statement Wednesday said Ouweidat’s decision to release the detainees was “illegal” and said he was committed to completing the investigation. “Judge Ouweidat cannot charge a judge who previously charged him in the port investigation due to conflict of interests,” Bitar’s statement read.
Seventeen detainees have been held for years in pre-trial detention after the massive port blast on Aug. 4, 2020. Hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, a material used in fertilizers, detonated at Beirut Port, killing 218 people, injuring over 6,000 and damaging large parts of the Lebanese capital.
Lawyer Sakher El Hachem, who represents former port authority head Hassan Koraytem and a former port official, U.S. citizen Ziad al-Ouf, told The Associated Press that they received confirmation of the decision from the judiciary and that his clients would be released Wednesday.
The judicial officials added that Ouweidat, who defied Bitar’s decision to resume the paralyzed investigation, will press charges against him. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
The officials added that Ouweidat sent a police officer to Bitar’s residence to notify him of the charges and instruct Bitar to visit his office, but the maverick investigator declined to speak with him.
Ouweidat did not immediately respond to calls from the AP seeking comment.
Mody Koraytem, the sister of the former port authority head, said the detainees’ release was long overdue and she said that they were all innocent.
“As port administration there wasn’t anything they could have done about it (the ammonium nitrate),” she said, adding that they did their jobs given that the judiciary cleared the deadly cargo to enter the port.