Last week, the investigation into the Beirut Port explosion was forced to pause as several former ministers filed a suit against the lead investigative judge, Tarek Bitar.
Today, the Beirut Courts of Appeal unanimously rejected the complaint against Judge Tarek Bitar allowing for the investigation to proceed.
The court fined each of the politicians 800,000 LL for this frivolous claim.
Former Ministers Nouhad Machnouk, Youssef Fenianos, and Ghazi Zaiter, who filed the suit, questioned Judge Bitar’s impartiality and demanded his dismissal. This put a pause to the Beirut Port investigation for one week.
This same tactic was used against Judge Bitar’s predecessor, Fadi Sawan. It took 2 months for the court to issue a ruling that ultimately dismissed Sawan.
Former Minister Nouhad Machnouk is currently a suspect in the Beirut Port explosion and was set to be questioned by Judge Bitar last week.
Judge Bitar has fallen victim to smear campaigns and death threats for his work investigating the Beirut Port blast. Among the threats was allegedly from the head of Hezbollah‘s internal security.
The threat claimed that if he was “not removed legally, he will be removed in another way.”
