Lebanon's top prosecutor ordered all suspects detained in the investigation into the deadly 2020 port blast in Beirut released, a lawyer for two detainees and judicial officials said on Wednesday.
The Associated PressA picture in 2020 shows a graffiti replacing the 'Bei' of Beirut with 'Bye' on the wall of a bridge overlooking the heavily damaged port of Beirut. A chief prosecutor has ordered all suspects detained in the investigation into the deadly 2020 port blast released.
The decision came after Judge Tarek Bitar on Monday resumed the investigation into the devastating port blast, following a 13-month halt over legal challenges raised by politicians accused in the probe — including the chief prosecutor. Lawyer Sakher El Hachem, who represents former port authority head Hassan Koraytem and a former port official, U.S. citizen Ziad al-Ouf, told The Associated Press that they received confirmation of the decision from the judiciary and that his clients would be released Wednesday.
The officials said that Oweidat sent a police officer to Bitar's residence to notify him of the charges and instruct Bitar to visit his office, but the maverick investigator declined to speak with him.Mody Koraytem, the sister of the former port authority head, said the detainees' release was long overdue and she claimed that they were all innocent.
Bitar is the second investigator to lead the probe into the port blast and has charged over a dozen senior political, security, port and security officials.On Monday, Bitar ordered the release of five of 17 detainees in the case and charged eight officials, among them top intelligence officials Maj.-Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and Maj.-Gen. Tony Saliba, as well as Oweidat.
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