French Court Rules for Release of Lebanese Activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
The former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade (LARB) was sentenced to life in 1987 for his role in the 1982 murders in Paris of US military attaché Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov, and the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984.
Officials at the French appeals court did not immediately reply for a comment on the situation.
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Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Special Coverage Five years on: Beirut Port blast victims still seek justice in Lebanon
Five years after one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history devastated Beirut's port and surrounding neighborhoods, victims' families and survivors are still fighting for justice as a long-stalled investigation slowly resumes under Lebanon's new government. In an apartment near the Lebanese capital's ravaged port, Paul and Tracy Naggear cradle their two young children born from a determination to keep living after losing everything that mattered most. Their three-year-old daughter Alexandra was among the more than 200 people killed when thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate exploded on August 4, 2020. Half a decade later, the Naggears' grief remains as raw as their anger over a stalled investigation that has yielded no answers, accountability, norjustice for their daughter. 'Our lives were destroyed on the fourth of August when my daughter Alexandra passed away,' Paul Naggear said during an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya English. 'Everything was destroyed, our apartment, our neighborhoods, our future. This is as tragic and traumatizing as you can imagine.' The couple's home on one of Beirut's main thoroughfares bore the full force of the blast that devastated much of the Lebanese capital. On that summer day, the Naggears found themselves among hundreds of thousands of residents living unknowingly in the shadow of a ticking time bomb, the improperly stored ammonium nitrate that had sat in a port warehouse for years. 'My wife and I decided on the day of our daughter's passing that we would continue living. We made the choice to live and to fight for her justice,' Naggear explained. The couple has since welcomed two sons, Axel and Rafael, who 'saved us, definitely, to some extent, and allow us to continue on this path.' But their determination to rebuild their lives has been shadowed by a maddening lack of answers about what caused the explosion that shattered their world. 'There is still no justice, which means that our daughter was taken from us, and still today, there is no accountability. There is no one behind bars,' Naggear said, his voice heavy with frustration. 'We have no idea of the truth of what happened that day.' Haunting questions The questions that haunt the Naggears reflect the broader mystery that continues to engulf Lebanon's deadliest peacetime disaster. They want to know why the ammonium nitrate was stored in front of potentially 300,000 people and households, and why nobody took action to remove the dangerous cargo or safeguard its location. Naggear's account of that chaotic day reveals the human cost of the government's unpreparedness. 'I had to take our daughter to the hospital on a scooter because you can imagine the situation she was in, because there was no immediate relief effort planned,' he recalled. His wife Tracy, who suffered three broken ribs, three broken vertebrae, and a severe head injury, 'had to walk for a very long time until she found a vehicle that took her to the hospital in a very, very bad condition.' In addition to the suffering, the family for four years watched as the investigative judge responsible for the case was systematically obstructed, due to what he described as government harassment. Though Naggear noted that 'the situation now, since earlier this year, has been better,' the fundamental questions about their daughter's death – and the deaths of more than 200 others – remain unanswered. Resuming an investigation Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation into the incident in January after being forced to suspend it in 2021 due to intense political pressure. His renewed probe comes as Lebanon attempts to rebuild credibility under President Joseph Aoun and reformist Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, both of whom have pledged to uphold judicial independence. For Carmen Geha, an academic and consultant who witnessed the blast firsthand, the lack of accountability became unbearable. She left Lebanon three years ago, driven not by the explosion itself, but by what followed – or rather, what didn't. 'I left specifically because of the aftermath of the explosion, specifically because nothing happened after that, and it's been five years and nothing has happened,' Geha told Al Arabiya English. A fellow at Chatham House who was teaching at the American University of Beirut at the time, Geha participated in community cleanup efforts in the weeks following the disaster. 'I was at home, the building shook. I was in Beirut. Everybody thought it was in their own neighborhood,' she recalled of that August afternoon. 'And then we quickly realized that nothing was going to happen.' Investigation faces continued obstacles The devastating port blast was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been unsafely stored for years after arriving by ship, despite repeated warnings to senior officials. Multiple investigations have revealed that high-ranking Lebanese officials, including the president at the time, knew about the dangerous materials stored near residential areas. Bitar was accused of bias by several officials named in the probe, including former interior minister Nohad Machnouk, who is suspected of 'negligence and misconduct.' These officials launched a series of legal proceedings against the judge, effectively paralyzing the investigation. The probe was further hampered when Hezbollah, long a dominant force in Lebanese politics but now weakened by its recent war with Israel, accused Bitar of bias and demanded his removal. The militant group's opposition effectively brought the investigation to a halt for over two years. On April 11, two former top security officials appeared before Bitar for the first time since the investigation's resumption. 'Nothing has happened' Yaarob Sakher, a now retired Lebanese army brigadier, anxiously awaited the investigation into the explosion by the state but expresses disappointment, saying that Hezbollah's interference prevented any meaningful results. 'They blocked the investigation and nothing happened until now,' he said. For Geha, the scope of inaction extends far beyond the courtroom. 'Nobody went to jail. There's yet to be a court investigation. There has not been a trial. No victim compensation, bodies and debris and remains were continued to be identified months later.' The explosion was particularly devastating because of its scope and the prior knowledge of officials. 'There were public officials, including the president at the time, that he knew that there was explosive material at the port,' Geha said. 'So that idea that it was kind of building up that creepiness of it. So that's number one very particular kind of crime, second, the level of negligence and corruption that can cover up for something so big.' In the immediate aftermath of the blast, Beirut witnessed an extraordinary outpouring of community solidarity. Geha participated in academic-led initiatives to assess environmental damage and support collapsed small businesses, while volunteers across the city organized cleanup efforts and aid distribution. 'The one positive thing was the short lived, like, community efforts, sort of hope, the hope and the dark that emerges when, when a disaster happens, right?' she said. 'People really, you know, shunned, politicians, called for justice, helped each other, building restaurants, collecting glass, raising money, bringing medicine.' But this grassroots response couldn't compensate for institutional failures. 'That short lived elation could only be short lived, because people cannot fix a country. You need structures,' Geha explained. In addition to what was happening, international aid largely failed to materialize due to lack of trust in Lebanese government institutions. 'The aid didn't come in, and rightfully so, because government institutions couldn't be trusted,' she said. 'The government institutions entrusted with that process of organizing the aid failed, but there was a caretaker government that bulls****ed their way month after month.' Even the volunteer cleanup efforts later proved problematic. 'We realized later that actually, we shouldn't have been cleaning the debris, and that there's asbestos everywhere,' recalled, saying that it 'hurtthe eyes of the young people that were carrying broomsticks.'. Lasting trauma, continuing crisis The explosion occurred against the backdrop of Lebanon's ongoing economic collapse and followed massive anti-government protests in 2019. Rather than spurring meaningful reform, the blast's aftermath saw conditions worsen, culminating in another devastating war with Israel in 2023. 'That early elation then turned to frustration, emigration and increased tensions in the country, because it's a country of misery, of a million refugees that can't work. You have refugee camps that are armed. You have people with school dropouts. You have drug addiction, narcotic state, all on top of the initial elation turned into just horrible,' Geha said. Despite the new government's promises, Geha remains skeptical about prospects for justice. When asked what she hoped to see in the next five years, she called for 'a public trial, a proper process of indictment, a traditional investigation that wins people's hearts and minds. Maybe it's not going to [bring back] the dead, but it might create an impediment for level of evil again.' She said that Lebanon is not unique in experiencing political crimes and crimes against humanity, pointing to international models for truth commissions and transitional justice. 'There is a way to model this. There is a way that we can learn on setting up tools commissions, and there is a way…I really don't know whether there's no inertia.' The current government, led by President Aoun and Prime Minister Salam, has made the right statements about judicial independence, according to Geha. 'Now there is a government that says all the right things…and you know, it looks good, but I don't see why there isn't that destination.' Sakher all but shares Geha's concerns, fearing that the new government could ultimately turn out to be not so different from previous ones. Yet, he keeps wishing for real change and results regarding the investigation. 'Hope is there' The port blast investigation has broader implications for Lebanon's relationship with international partners and its prospects for recovery from multiple crises. The explosion occurred amid a severe economic collapse that has pushed millions into poverty and triggered massive emigration. As Lebanon marks the fifth anniversary of the explosion, the contrast between the scale of the tragedy and the absence of accountability remains unforgiveable said Geha, adding that the lack of progress represents not just a failure of justice, but a fundamental breach of the social contract. 'It's an insult. Honestly.' 'Like a city after war' Farea al-Muslimi, Research Fellow at Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Program, reflected on how the Beirut port blast fundamentally changed his understanding of conflict and governance in Lebanon. 'Personally, since I was there, first and foremost, the second day after the blast, Beirut looked like a city after a war,' al-Muslimi told Al Arabiya English. The scene, he said, reminded him of war-torn cities in Yemen and elsewhere, leading him to a broader realization about the nature of what Lebanese people were experiencing. 'The explosion made me rethink the very concept of war,' he said, adding what was being done to the Lebanese people constituted a war, but 'they did not have the right to call it a war or even the benefit of a war.' Instead, it was 'a war by their bankers, a war by the system, a war by the sectarian formula in the country – essentially a conflict with many criminals but where 'no one was called a criminal.' Al-Muslimi argued that the situation exemplifies what happens under Lebanon's power-sharing system andhe warned of its real consequences: 'You have a bunch of criminals, a bunch of warlords, and instead of them being in jail, you award them with a political formula that basically gives them new ways to continue launching these wars against civilians.' The researcher emphasized that Lebanon's dignity had been 'shattered' because those in power faced no accountability despite their failures. This lack of consequences, he suggested, stems from the need to maintain the country's sectarian power-sharing balance. Looking ahead, al-Muslimi expressed uncertainty about Lebanon's path forward. Five years after the blast, he questioned how the country could 'pull things together and move forward' without holding anyone accountable for what happened.
Arab News
11 hours ago
- Arab News
A settler accused of killing a Palestinian activist is to be freed, as Israel still holds the body
TEL AVIV: An Israeli settler accused of killing a prominent Palestinian activist during a confrontation captured on video in the occupied West Bank will be released from house arrest, an Israeli court ruled Friday. The video shot by a Palestinian witness shows Yinon Levi brandishing a pistol and tussling with a group of unarmed Palestinians. He can be seen firing two shots, but the video does not show where the bullets hit. Witnesses said one of the shots killed Awdah Hathaleen, an English teacher and father of three, who was uninvolved and was standing nearby. The Israeli military is still holding Hathaleen's body and says it will only be returned if the family agrees to bury him in a nearby city. It said the measure was being taken to 'prevent public disorder.' The confrontation occurred on Monday in the village of Umm Al-Khair, in an area of the West Bank featured in 'No Other Land,' an Oscar-winning documentary about settler violence and life under Israeli military rule. In a court decision obtained by The Associated Press, Judge Havi Toker wrote that there was 'no dispute' that Levi shot his gun in the village that day, but she said he may have been acting in self-defense and that the court could not establish that the shots killed Hathaleen. Israel's military and police did not respond to a request for comment on whether anyone else may have fired shots that day. Multiple calls placed to Levi and his lawyer have not been answered. The judge said Levi did not pose such a danger as to justify his continued house arrest but barred him from contact with the villagers for a month. Levi has been sanctioned by the United States and other Western countries over allegations of past violence toward Palestinians. President Donald Trump lifted the US sanctions on Levi and other radical settlers shortly after returning to office. A total of 18 Palestinians from the village were arrested after the incident. Six remain in detention. Eitay Mack, an Israeli lawyer who has lobbied for sanctions against radical settlers, including Levi, said the court ruling did not come as a surprise. 'Automatically, Palestinian victims are considered suspects, while Jewish suspects are considered victims,' he said. Levi helped establish an settler outpost near Umm Al-Khair that anti-settlement activists say is a bastion for violent settlers who have displaced hundreds since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Palestinians and rights groups have long accused Israeli authorities of turning a blind eye to settler violence, which has surged since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, along with attacks by Palestinians. In a 2024 interview, Levi said he was protecting his own land and denied using violence. Some 70 women in Umm Al-Khair said they were beginning a hunger strike on Friday to call for Hathaleen's body to be returned and for the right of his family to bury him in the village. Israel's military said in a statement to the AP that it would return the body if the family agrees to bury him in the 'nearest authorized cemetery.' Hathaleen, 31, had written and spoke out against settler violence, and had helped produce the Oscar-winning film. Supporters have erected murals in his honor in Rome, held vigils in New York and have held signs bearing his name at anti-war protests in Tel Aviv.
Asharq Al-Awsat
11 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanon's Finance Minister: No Sale of State Assets, But Strategic Partnerships Ahead
Lebanon is preparing to take a major step toward restoring financial stability by the end of this month, with Parliament expected to approve a draft law to restructure the banking sector. This legislation follows the adoption of the banking secrecy law and paves the way for tackling the long-delayed 'financial gap' law, a critical component in resolving Lebanon's severe economic, monetary, and financial crises. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Finance Minister Yassin Jaber emphasized that there is no justification for further delays. The government has already reorganized Lebanon's monetary institutions, enabling them to assess bank conditions, categorize depositors, and prepare comprehensive financial data required for the next steps. These measures will help fairly distribute losses estimated at around $73 billion. Jaber described the banking and financial reform process as the toughest challenge facing the government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, the first under President Joseph Aoun. These reforms coincide with critical efforts to resolve political challenges, including ending daily Israeli aggressions and consolidating state control over arms. The minister stressed the need to end a prolonged state of denial, which has fueled piecemeal responses to a deep-rooted crisis. Lebanon, he warned, risks being downgraded to a 'blacklisted' status globally if urgent reforms are not enacted. One of the government's top priorities, Jaber explained, is addressing the financial gap -larger than twice the GDP - by clarifying responsibilities for the losses, including the role of the Central Bank and commercial banks. The upcoming law will outline these responsibilities and enable better coordination among the Central Bank, its oversight bodies, and relevant stakeholders. Despite severe liquidity shortages, Lebanon will not sell its public assets, Jaber stated firmly. 'The country is not bankrupt,' he said, echoing assurances from both the President and Prime Minister. Instead, the focus will be on optimizing the use of state assets and attracting strategic partnerships, especially in electricity, telecommunications, ports, and other vital sectors, without resorting to privatization. Efforts are also underway to modernize public finance. The 2026 budget will include measures to boost revenues through tighter customs enforcement and more efficient tax collection. Jaber said ministries are contributing to a medium-term fiscal framework for 2026–2029 to better align spending with economic goals. Jaber concluded by reaffirming the government's commitment to transforming Lebanon from a debt-driven, consumption-based economy into a productive one centered on public-private partnership projects. He noted that the government is continuing to appoint regulatory authorities in key sectors that are attractive to investors - moves that will pave the way for strategic partnerships, not asset sales, as he emphasized once more. These partnerships aim to improve the quality of essential services at fair costs, particularly in electricity, telecommunications, air and sea transport, real estate, and other vital areas. Jaber also highlighted the importance of economic reforms in strengthening cooperation with international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union, and the World Bank.
