Judiciary to Hold Meetings on Port Case as Eyes Turn to Tayyouneh Investigations

The Higher Judicial Council will hold a series of consultative meetings this week, including one on Thursday with Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, media reports said Tuesday.

The Council will discuss with Bitar “the reservations raised over the course of his investigations according to the format reached in PM Najib Miqati’s meeting in the weekend with the heads of the judicial authority,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper said.

The file of military and security investigations into the deadly Tayyouneh clashes will meanwhile be referred with the detainees to a court in the next two days, the daily added.

“Preliminary reports say that these investigations have reached documented results that refute the Shiite duo’s account of events about the protesters facing an ambush and sniper gunshots,” Nidaa al-Watan said.

“This is what was confirmed by the Defense Minister himself, when he said that what happened on Thursday was not an ambush but rather an unfortunate incident,” the daily added.

It also noted that Defense Minister Maurice Slim had told LBCI TV that “the gunfire might have happened from the street and not from rooftops.”