Judge Tarek Bitar, who is in charge of investigating the Beirut port explosion case, will be able to continue his investigation, despite 34 appeals lodged against him by personalities against whom he had taken legal action.
The acting public prosecutor of the Court of Cassation, Judge Jamal Hajjar, overturned a decision on Monday by his predecessor, Judge Ghassan Oueidate, to prohibit the competent authorities from receiving any decision, notification or document emanating from Judge Bitar.
This decision dates back to January 2023 and was taken in the wake of the political-judicial war launched against the investigating judge.
At the time, Oueidate considered that Tarek Bitar should be removed from the case, even though he had recused himself, due to his family ties with the former Minister of Public Works, Ghazi Zeaiter. The examining magistrate had held Zeaiter administratively responsible for keeping ammonium nitrate in hangar no. 12 at the port, the explosion of which pulverized part of Beirut on August 4, 2020. The former minister counter-attacked by lodging an appeal for Bitar to be removed from the case, and Bitar was accused by the public prosecutor of usurpation of office.
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