The US administration reiterated its demand for the Lebanese authorities to complete investigations into the August 4, 2020, explosion in Beirut port that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands of others, and caused massive destruction in the capital.
Since December 23, 2021, investigations into the explosion, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in modern history, have been suspended after a series of legal appeals filed by suspected politicians against Judge Tariq Bitar, overseeing these investigations.
Lebanese politicians submitted over 25 requests to dismiss Bitar and other judges involved in the case.
In January 2023, the Lebanese Public Prosecutor, Ghassan Oweidat, halted Bitar's efforts to resume the investigation and ordered the release of all 17 suspects who had been arrested as part of the investigations.
In response to a question by Asharq Al-Awsat on the third anniversary of the explosion, a US State Department spokesperson asserted that the United States still stands with the Lebanese people.
"The victims and their families deserve justice and accountability for those responsible for the disaster and the underlying causes."
He indicated that the US and the international community have made it clear since the explosion that the Lebanese authorities need to expedite the completion of a transparent and prompt investigation into the horrific blast.
"The lack of progress towards accountability is unacceptable and underscores the need for judicial reform and greater respect for the rule of law in Lebanon."
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and about 300 bodies, individuals, survivors, and families of the victims renewed their call on the member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council should support the establishment of an international, independent, and impartial fact-finding mission into the explosion.
They emphasized that "there have been more than three years of continuous political interference into the domestic investigation."
The organizations reported that: "the Lebanese authorities have taken no meaningful steps to ensure that the domestic investigation can progress or to adopt a law on the independence of the judiciary in line with international standards."
UN member states should put forward a resolution establishing a fact-finding mission to uphold the rights of victims and survivors to truth, justice, and effective remedies, including reparations, and to show that such deliberate inaction by the Lebanese authorities has consequences, the organizations said.
