Latest news with #Oueidat
L'Orient-Le Jour
3 days ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Oueidat once again absent from interrogation with Judge Bitar over Aug. 4 port explosion
Former public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Judge Ghassan Oueidat, did not appear at the interrogation session scheduled for Monday before investigating judge at the Court of Justice, Tarek Bitar, who had summoned him as part of his investigation into the explosion that occurred at Beirut Port on Aug. 4, 2020. Judge Bitar decided to 'not summon Judge Oueidat again and to postpone any decision regarding him until the indictment is issued,' in accordance with the approach adopted for 'other people recently questioned,' reported the state-run National News Agency (NNA). On July 11, Oueidat declined to appear. He had not been notified of the hearing by the judicial police and had been summoned via the Public Prosecution, according to a high-ranking judicial source cited by L'Orient-Le Jour. Judge Bitar then set a new hearing for July 21, 10 days later. In January 2023, Oueidat prohibited the Public Prosecution and the judicial police from cooperating with Bitar in the port investigation. This ban was lifted on March 10, 2025, by the new public prosecutor, Jamal Hajjar, after 26 months of deadlock. On July 4, it was Amal MP and former minister Ghazi Zeaiter who did not appear at his hearing, choosing to be represented by his lawyer, Samer al-Hajj. A new summons was set for July 18, which Zeaiter also failed to attend. On Aug. 4, 2020, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history devastated a large part of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring 6,500. The blast was caused by a fire in a port warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored without precaution, despite repeated warnings to the highest authorities, who were accused of negligence. Judge Bitar had to suspend his investigations in January 2023, faced with hostility from much of the political class, notably Hezbollah, as well as a series of legal actions brought against him. He resumed his investigation at the beginning of 2025 and has already questioned several former officials, including former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and former Interior Minister Nohad Mashnouk.
Nahar Net
6 days ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Zoaiter and Oueidat refuse to appear before Bitar in port case
Former public works and transport minister Ghazi Zoaiter on Friday failed to appear before Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, the National News Agency said. Zoaiter's lawyer Samer al-Hajj, however, attended the session, NNA added. 'In light of Zoaiter's failure to show up, the judicial investigator postponed taking a decision against him until the issuance of the indictment,' the agency said. Former state prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat had on Thursday refused to receive a subpoena summoning him to interrogation before Bitar on July 21, calling the later 'ineligible and lacking jurisdiction.' In a written response, Oueidat considered the subpoena as null and void and said Bitar lacks 'legitimacy.' During his term as state prosecutor, Oueidat had charged Bitar for "rebelling against the judiciary" and slapped him with a travel ban. Oueidat said that he charged Bitar in order to "prevent sedition." He also summoned Bitar for questioning. Moreover, Oueidat ordered the release of all suspects detained in connection with the deadly 2020 port blast. "Security forces' enforcement of the state prosecutor's order to release the detainees will be a coup against the law," Bitar told al-Jadeed at the time. The detainees did walk free after Oueidat's decision. "Only the judicial investigator has the right to issue release orders and accordingly Stat Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat's decision has no legal value," Bitar added. Bitar had resumed work on the port blast investigation after a 13-month hiatus, charging several high-level officials, including Oueidat, over the blast. The August 4, 2020 explosion, one of history's biggest non-nuclear blasts, killed more than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of the Lebanese capital. The explosion was caused by the detonation of hundreds of tons of poorly-stored ammonium nitrate fertilizer following a blaze. Security sources initially suggested welding work could have started the fire that triggered the blast, but experts have since dismissed the theory as unlikely and an attempt to shift the blame off high-level failings. The probe stalled two years ago after Hezbollah accused Bitar of bias and demanded his dismissal, and after officials named in the investigation filed a flurry of lawsuits against him. The resumption of work comes with Hezbollah's influence weakened after its recent war with Israel and follows the election of a Lebanese president after a more than two-year vacancy. President Joseph Aoun on Thursday told a delegation from the families of the Beirut port blast victims that he has a 'clear commitment' to 'unveil the full truth' and 'hold accountable all those who caused this tragedy.' 'This is the path to pull our country out of the darkness of corruption and negligence,' Aoun added. 'From now on, the judiciary will take its course, the guilty will be put on trial and the innocent will be acquitted,' Aoun pledged.
L'Orient-Le Jour
7 days ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Former prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat refuses to be notified of summons from Judge Bitar
Former public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Ghassan Oueidat refused on Thursday to be notified of a hearing scheduled by investigative judge at the Court of Justice Tarek Bitar for questioning on Monday as a suspect in the case of the double explosion at Beirut's port, which occurred on Aug. 4, 2020. In practice, the judicial police, acting on instructions from the head of the Court of Cassation, public prosecutor's office Jamal Hajjar, went on Thursday to Shehim — the former magistrate's hometown and place of residence in the Chouf — to deliver his summons, a source at the Palace of Justice told L'Orient-Le Jour. Oueidat read the notification without signing it and sent a letter to Bitar through the police officer, in which he asserts that the judge has neither 'legitimacy' nor 'jurisdiction' to question him. To justify his refusal, Oueidat relied on Article 354 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which he interprets as requiring, among other things, that a magistrate accused of a misdemeanor or felony must be tried before a judicial body designated ad hoc. Oueidat had already been summoned on July 11 by Bitar, but did not attend the hearing as the judicial police had not duly notified him. In January 2023, the former head of the public prosecutor's office initiated legal proceedings against Bitar for 'usurpation of authority' and 'rebellion against the judiciary,' after the latter decided, based on a legal study, to resume his investigation by bypassing the judicial deadlock he faced due to a series of appeals filed against him by suspects — which were deemed abusive.
