Lebanon’s Military Judiciary Takes Over Investigations Into Port Explosion

 A man is seen at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
A man is seen at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
TT

Lebanon’s Military Judiciary Takes Over Investigations Into Port Explosion

 A man is seen at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
A man is seen at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

The Military Court received the investigation case in the Beirut port explosion to conduct interrogations and issue arrest warrants against the suspects, until a forensic investigator is appointed over the matter and the case is returned to the Judicial Council.

In parallel, the State Prosecution gave instructions to the security forces to handover the detainees who are held pending investigation, to be referred to the Government Commissioner to the Military Court, Judge Fadi Akiki, to press charges against them and refer them to the Military Investigation Judge for questioning.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the military court received the case and that Akiki began studying the preliminary investigations and would press charges against the detainees and all the individuals who would be found involved, whether premeditatedly or due to their negligence.

Judicial sources also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the military judiciary investigations were temporary until a judicial investigator is appointed after the resigned government decided to refer the case to the Judicial Council.

While sources believed that the referral to the Judicial Council was aimed at blocking the way to the demands for an international investigation committee, which is rejected by the President Michel Aoun and Hezbollah, other observers noted that the Council taking over the issue would mean that the case was a “threat to the country’s internal security a disruption of civil peace.”



Palestinian UN Ambassador Says Security Council Must Demand Ceasefire in Gaza

Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Palestinian UN Ambassador Says Security Council Must Demand Ceasefire in Gaza

Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, October 16, 2024. (Reuters)

Arab nations and the Palestinians are pushing for a UN Security Council resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Asked to respond to Israel and Hamas saying they don’t want a ceasefire following the Israeli killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, told reporters Friday that the decision isn’t up to them.

“It is not up to the fighting parties to dictate upon all of us their wishes and their activities, ... especially Israel,” he said. “It is the duty of the Security Council to say, `We demand an immediate ceasefire and compliance by all parties, and we demand that to take place, for example, within 24 hours or within 48 hours.”

Mansour said it should not be “taboo” for the Security Council to draft a resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which would make it militarily enforceable.

Mansour was speaking after he and 10 Arab ambassadors met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The Palestinian ambassador said they discussed a leaked proposal from Israeli generals to declare northern Gaza a military zone and seal it off, which he said would threaten 400,000 Palestinians there with death or starvation.

Mansour expressed hope that the often divided Security Council has “the spine and the strength and the determination” to stop that from happening and demand an immediate cease-fire and the delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, “and to allow for opening a door to a political horizon.”