The Public Prosecutor, Ghassan Oweidat, decided, on Wednesday, to release all those arrested in the Beirut Port explosion case, amid a judicial crisis, following the judicial investigator in the case announced the resumption of his investigations, 13 months following it was suspended.
Release and travel ban
Aweidat decided, according to a memorandum seen by Agence France-Presse, “to release all those arrested in the Beirut port explosion case, without exception, and prevent them from traveling and put them at the disposal of the Judicial Council.”
He also decided to summon the judicial investigator in the Beirut port case, Thursday morning, to appear before him, following he was charged with “rebellion once morest the judiciary and usurpation of power,” according to a judicial official told AFP.
Hezbollah supports the release of the detainees
Hezbollah militia supported the Attorney General’s decisions to release all those arrested in the Beirut port bombing.
For his part, Tariq Al-Bitar told Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath that he continues to assume his responsibilities in the case until the indictment is issued, adding that the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation is not entitled to take any decision in the file because he is relinquishing him and is a defendant in the case.
judicial war
Oweidat’s decisions come, on Wednesday, to charge Judge Tariq Bitar amid a judicial war that erupted between the two parties following the latter’s decision to resume investigations into the explosion 13 months following they were suspended, despite the Public Prosecution’s rejection of his decisions.
The judicial investigator, Tariq Al-Bitar, had resumed his investigations into the port explosion case following it was suspended since the end of 2021, and decided to summon 8 prominent officials, but Oweidat rejected Al-Bitar’s decisions “wholesale and in detail.”
“Coup once morest the law”
And the media quoted Al-Bitar as saying that any response by the security forces to the decision of the discriminatory public prosecutor to release the detainees would be tantamount to a “coup once morest the law.”
It stated that Oweidat filed a lawsuit once morest Al-Bitar and prevented him from traveling.
