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Beirut Port Blast Suspect Faces Extradition Hearing in Madrid

A general view shows the grain silo damaged during the 2020 Beirut port explosion, in Beirut Lebanon January 17, 2022. (Reuters)
A general view shows the grain silo damaged during the 2020 Beirut port explosion, in Beirut Lebanon January 17, 2022. (Reuters)
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Beirut Port Blast Suspect Faces Extradition Hearing in Madrid

A general view shows the grain silo damaged during the 2020 Beirut port explosion, in Beirut Lebanon January 17, 2022. (Reuters)
A general view shows the grain silo damaged during the 2020 Beirut port explosion, in Beirut Lebanon January 17, 2022. (Reuters)

A Portuguese man faced an extradition hearing in Madrid over allegations he was involved in the devastating 2020 port explosion in Beirut, authorities said on Thursday.

The man, named in court as Jorge Manuel Mirra Neto Moreira, flew to Chile from the Spanish capital this week but was put on a plane back to Madrid after Chilean authorities detained him at the request of global police agency Interpol.

Lebanon's justice minister Henry Khoury did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Lebanon would seek the man's extradition.

Extradition processes in Spain can take several months.

Moreira is not allowed to leave Spain. His passport has been taken away and he must appear before authorities on a weekly basis, a judicial source said.

A juridical source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Moreira came to Beirut in 2014 and examined the cargo at Beirut port.

Former Investigative Judge Fadi Sawan issued Interpol Red Notices for Moreira and the captain, added the source.

A source from Portugal's national criminal investigation police unit PJ said Moreira had previously appeared before a court in the northern Portuguese city of Porto as a result of the Interpol notice, but the court shelved the case because Lebanon failed to send the required documentation.

The same could happen in Spain if Lebanon does not send the needed documentation, the PJ source said.

The massive port explosion on August 4, 2020, which was due to the unsafe storage of large quantities of ammonium nitrate, killed at least 214 people, while more than 6,500 were injured, and devastated entire neighborhoods of the capital.

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After Debate, Iraqi Armed Factions Refuse to Disband

Members of the al-Nujaba movement during a military parade. (Al-Nujaba)
Members of the al-Nujaba movement during a military parade. (Al-Nujaba)
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After Debate, Iraqi Armed Factions Refuse to Disband

Members of the al-Nujaba movement during a military parade. (Al-Nujaba)
Members of the al-Nujaba movement during a military parade. (Al-Nujaba)

Undersecretary of the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hisham al-Alawi stressed on Sunday that the dismantling and disarmament of armed factions was an internal Iraqi affair.

He added: “Iraq is interested in amicably resolving problems with regional countries. Regional stability is necessary for development.”

On the factions, he said it was necessary to make a distinction between the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and other factions that are not aligned to it.

The PMF, he explained, is an integral part of Iraq’s security and military institutions.

“Neutralizing the factions that operate outside the state is an Iraqi affair. Iraq is concerned with neutralizing them when it comes to their external actions,” he remarked.

He made his remarks days after Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Asharq Al-Awsat that the possession of weapons outside the control of the state was “unacceptable”.

He said the government was “trying to convince the armed factions” to lay down their arms. This has cast doubt in the country over its actual ability to handle the issue given the persistent internal disputes, especially between Shiite forces.

Meanwhile, the Al-Nujaba and Saraya Awliya al-Dam factions announced that they were suspending their operations against Israel as the ceasefire in Gaza took effect.

However, al-Nujaba politburo head Ali al-Assadi said the “weapons of the resistance were legitimate” and that his movement has not been asked to lay down its arms.

This marks the first statement in over two months over the possession of weapons by a faction of the “Resistance Axis” that is allied with Iran.

Al-Assadi said on Saturday that the “Iraqi resistance is ready to support the military operations should Israel resume its attacks on Gaza.”

This means that all the statements and debates about the weapons have been effectively dismissed by the factions.

The government has not called on the al-Nujaba to lay down its weapons or to disband, al-Assadi continued.

“The foreign minister’s comments about the issue are unrealistic and all politicians know that were it not for the resistance, they wouldn’t be in their positions,” he stressed.

On Higher Shiite Authority Ali al-Sistani's statements two months ago on the need to limit the possession of arms to the state, al-Assadi said: “He was not referring to the resistance factions.”

He added, however, that the factions “are ready to lay down their arms if Sistani directly and openly says so.”