Bitar stresses he won't give up, urges 'drastic solution' from judiciary

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar has stressed that he “will not give up the port file under any pressure.”

“I will not step down from this case,” Bitar added, in remarks to the al-Modon news portal.

Asked about the French judicial delegation’s request to look into the investigations file, Bitar emphasized that he will not hand over “any paper” from his file before the resumption of the Lebanese investigation.

“I’m ready to cooperate with the French judiciary to achieve justice,” he added.

And in remarks to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Bitar underscored that “the investigation will continue and will not come to an end.”

“I will not surrender to obstruction,” he added.

“I hope the judiciary will reach legal exits that would re-launch the investigation course in an ordinary and regular manner,” Bitar went on to say, calling for “a drastic and not a temporary solution.”

The Aug. 4, 2020 explosion killed more than 230 people, injured 6,000 and devastated entire neighborhoods of the capital after hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in fertilizers, detonated in a port warehouse.

It later emerged the chemical was shipped to Lebanon in 2013 and stored improperly at the warehouse. A handful of senior political and security officials knew of its presence and the threat it imposed on the city but failed to take action to remove it.

Bitar's investigation into the disaster has been frozen since December 2021 after politicians he had charged in the case filed legal challenges to the probe. No one has been tried or convicted over the blast.