Lebanese PM: Divisions in judiciary may have 'dangerous consequences'

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Prime Minister Najib Mikati of Lebanon warned on Wednesday that the country is witnessing a divide within the judicial body, against the backdrop of the crisis between the country’s public prosecutor and the investigator assigned to the Beirut port explosion, which may have critical consequences. 

Local media quoted Mikati as expressing confidence, during the Businessmen Union for Support and Development dinner, that the Supreme Judicial Council will be on the lookout to take the appropriate decisions for what is happening. He stressed against repercussions if the actors involved don’t solve the dilemma. 

Oueidat releases all detainees

Judge Ghassan Oueidat, Lebanon's Public Prosecutor, announced earlier on Wednesday the release of all those arrested in connection with the Beirut port explosion case and barred them from traveling. Furthermore, the prosecutor charged and barred Tariq Bitar, the case's judicial investigator, from traveling.

On the same note, a judicial source in Lebanon confirmed that the country's Public Prosecutor charged Judge Bitar with violating the law.

Oueidat on Tuesday sent a letter to Bitar saying his probe remained suspended and on Wednesday issued a decision, saying the judge did not have the authority to resume his investigation.

The prosecution rejected the resumption of the probe. "We were only informed of Bitar's decision through the media," Oueidat told AFP, adding that "since he considers that the general prosecution doesn't exist, we will also act like he doesn't exist."

On Wednesday, Oueidat told AFP that in order to "prevent sedition", he had "filed charges against investigative judge Tarek Bitar and banned him from travel for rebelling against the judiciary and usurping power."

For his part, Judge Bitar argued that only the judicial investigator has the right to issue release decisions, and therefore the public prosecutor’s decision has no legal value, and stressed that he considers any action by the security forces to release the detainees would be tantamount to a “coup against the law.”

Lebanon is witnessing a state of legal and constitutional chaos, which blew up after Judge Bitar issued a legal opinion, according to which he decided to proceed with the Beirut Blast investigations, albeit despite him being accused of politicizing the investigation, and despite more than 50 cease-and-desist orders filed against him. 

Bitar refuses to step down

Judge Bitar refused on Wednesday to step down from the probe, rejecting charges filed against him by the Public Prosecutor in the case.

Bitar dropped a surprise earlier this week, charging several powerful figures -- including prosecutor general Oueidat -- over the blast and reviving a probe that was suspended for over a year amid intense political and legal pushback.

On August 4, 2020, an explosion at Beirut's port shook the capital killing more than 200 people, injuring about 6,500 others, and displacing thousands.

The Lebanese authorities attributed the explosion to the storage of huge quantities of highly explosive ammonium nitrate for years in one of the wards inside the port, without precautionary measures.

Investigations indicate that Lebanese officials, at the political, security and judicial levels, were aware of the dangers of storing this material, without taking action. However, the faltering judicial investigations did not determine those responsible for the explosion, due to political differences over the file.