Amnesty says blocking Bitar akin to crushing port investigation

Amnesty International on Thursday decried that blocking the work of Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar is “akin to crushing the domestic investigation.”

“Judge Bitar should be allowed to resume his work immediately. But the international community should also heed the victims’ calls for an international investigation,” Amnesty’s MENA dept. tweeted on its official account.

“The Lebanese authorities have made it patently clear that they are not interested in truth or #justice, & that they will use all the tools at their disposal to obstruct the domestic investigation and protect the politicians charged in the case,” Amnesty added.

It also lamented that “it is absurd to see the judiciary acting swiftly to penalize families of the victims who are demanding justice for throwing stones at the Judicial Palace, while almost 2.5 years after the #Beirutblast that decimated over half the city, no one has been held to account.”