Today, Friday, “frictions” erupted between the families of victims of the Beirut port explosion and security forces inside the building of the Ministry of Justice in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, after it became known that the case of the explosion in the port was assigned to a second judge. according to the National News Agency.
The agency added that riot police were called in to escort the families of the victims from the first floor of the ministry building after they tried to get to the minister’s office.
Local media reported that the families of the victims broke into the justice ministry this morning to meet with the justice minister and announce their refusal to appoint a second judge as part of the port bombing investigation.
Yesterday, Thursday, the families of the victims organized a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Justice following news of the approval of the appointment of an auxiliary judicial investigator, Judge Tariq Al-Bitar in the port case, exposing what they called political interference in the work of the judiciary.
Protesters staged a protest to reject the Supreme Judicial Council’s approval of a proposal by Acting Attorney General Henry El Khoury to appoint a second judicial investigator.
This came after Al-Khoury denied reports of Al-Bitar’s exclusion from the investigation, saying that reports of political interference in the case were “incorrect”.
The media quoted Khoury as saying that the Supreme Court had not yet appointed a judge in the port case. He added: “We did not cut Tariq al-Bitar … so let everyone understand.”
However, media reports indicated that a second judge had been appointed “to hear urgent and necessary cases in the Beirut port bombing case.”
