With the end of the Easter holiday for Christians and the month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr for Muslims, the families of the victims of the Beirut Port explosion returned from their temporary silence, trying to break the chronic "fasting" of the judiciary.
This article was originally published in and translated from Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al-Watan.
"We will not be bored." Under this slogan, several families of the victims of the fire brigade moved in two directions: the first towards the Palace of Justice, holding up pictures of their children; perhaps it would move the remaining living consciences to revive the file from its stability, and to release the hand of the investigating judge Tarek Bitar. The second is towards the Beirut Bar Association.
In Adlieh, a delegation from the families met the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Suhail Abboud. There are no firm or decisive promises in resolving the issue and launching its train. This means that the file is still in the circle of internal judicial conflict on the one hand and its resistance to achieving its sovereignty and independence from the interference of the political authority on the other hand.
Despite this, lawyer Ralph Tannous relies on the Lebanese judiciary, calling on the Supreme Judicial Council to quickly resolve the outstanding legal problem between the Public Prosecution Office and Judge Tarek Bitar so that the latter can accomplish his mission and complete his investigations, provided that the Public Prosecution then conducts its legal review in preparation for issuing the decision, instead of throwing it into the labyrinths of government and judicial appointments, and linking it to breaking the captivity of the presidential elections.
In this context, William Noun pointed out that "things do not follow their natural path, and we have reached a place that prompts us to be here, and this is not our desire, but rather we want the judiciary to take its role," considering that the file "is still with Bitar in a legal way, with the continued suspension of the judicial path."
He stressed that "the families did not demand, even once, to know what is happening in the investigation and its confidentiality, but rather "we have the right to know the date of the sessions and the time of the judiciary's work and why the lawsuits against some people withdrew a year ago, and the investigation stopped. We blame some judges." He called Judge Bitar to "clarify his position."
According to Nidaa al-Watan, geographically, the distance between the port of Beirut and Adlieh does not exceed 7 kilometers. However, in the logic of law, it seems that the best way for the case to reach its result is to roam the capitals of international decision-making instead of "spinning and turning" in the boats of political misery and its bureaucracy.
Adding that if the Palace of Justice was "empty-handed," the meeting at the Bar Association yesterday strengthened hope among the victims' families.
As President Nader Gaspard invited them to a meeting with a high-ranking delegation of French lawyers, which included the former head of the Bar Association in Lyon and a delegation of 12 lawyers from the Marseille Bar, where it was agreed on direct coordination between the French and the families to help them move the Lebanese investigation on the one hand, and access to an international fact-finding commission by the United Nations.
Lawyer Tannous pointed out that "the meeting was very fruitful to the extent that some of Marseille's lawyers shed tears after hearing the suffering of the families."
As for the cooperation path, it begins with the families submitting their report, in coordination with the United Nations Human Rights Office in Beirut, on the obstacles surrounding the investigation file.
The families also received a promise from the representatives of the French associations to file lawsuits with the French courts based on the French victims of the Beirut explosion, as happened with London's High Court of Justice last February, which issued a judicial ruling against the "Savaro Ltd" company in the case of the shipment of ammonium nitrate that it transported.
The company went to Lebanon, and the cargo later caused the port to explode.
Based on Nidaa al-Watan, the irony lies in the fact that the French President is the first obstruction to the international investigation, according to Noun, who revealed in an interview with Nidaa Al-Watan that during the families' meetings with French diplomats, they discerned Macron's lack of enthusiasm and desire in this direction, attributing the reason to the latter's political calculations and his economic interests in Lebanon.
In conclusion, the international path of justice did not end at the British and French borders, as the Australian state (being a member of the UN Security Council) announced its adoption of the port issue, which allows it, according to the organization's system, to bring the case to the United Nations General Assembly, and push for the formation of an international fact-finding committee.