Beirut, Lebanon The carpenter of the Lebanese Ministry of Justice, Marie-Claude Najem, says that there is enough reason to distrust the judicial power of Lebanon, but last week’s explosion of Beirut is an “opportunity” for this vital institution to earn public trust by holding those responsible accountable.
Many have questioned the ability of the country’s weak judicial authorities to conduct a full and transparent investigation into the devastating explosion that killed more than 170 people and injured some 6,000 others. Thousands are still missing.
“A lot of the criticism is guaranteed because of the slow pace of work and some politicization, but this case is an opportunity for the Lebanese judiciary to prove that they can do their job and win back the trust of the people,” he said. told Najem to Al Jazeera.
Public pressure and the international coverage of the explosion would probably push things in the right direction as well, she said.
“It will be difficult for them to do things like they did in the past.”
The 2,750 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate that blew up on August 4 were kept at the port of Beirut for almost seven years with the ultimate knowledge of many top political and security officials – yet nothing was done to prevent such a disaster from happening.
Those who have called for an international inquiry include French President Emmanuel Macron and leading legal groups, as well as many survivors and relatives of the victims.
“We are not in a position today to give the judiciary a chance,” said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Director of Middle East Research, Al Jazeera.
“If you look in the past at the track record of the judiciary regarding justice in general and all the serious violations that the Lebanese people have perpetrated, there is simply no confidence in anything of this magnitude . “
Najem countered: “My starting point is always the Lebanese judiciary, because I do not want to create a system where every time a major case goes to the international. We can use international experts, but my role is to try the judiciary. over here. “
Research ‘already internationalized’
Najem said the investigation had already brought in international experts, particularly French police and forensic specialists, to investigate the site of the explosion.
Marie-Claude Najem [File: Reuters]
The involvement of the French public prosecution was due to the existence of French victims, she said, giving the investigation an international angle. French Ambassador Bruno Foucher tweeted that French involvement was “a guarantee of impartiality in investigations and of speed”.
Investigations initially went to the military court, and 19 people were arrested, including the current and former customs corps and the head of the port management of Beirut.
The judiciary will question four former public works ministers – nominally in charge of port oversight – on Friday.
Debris and damaged cars are seen in the port area, after an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon [Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters]
In his last session before Minister Hassan Diab announced his resignation on Monday, the cabinet referred the investigation to the Judicial Council.
The council is the highest court in Lebanon, reserved for cases considered as affecting national security, such as the assassination of former president-elect Bashir Gemayel during the 1975-90 civil war.
Maalouf said the court “lacks transparency and the ability to follow the trial”.
While Najem had proposed a name for a judicial investigator in the council who would take over the once appointed investigation, the country’s Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected her choice, without giving a public explanation.
At the time of publication, no researcher had been selected.
Assign responsibility
Najem said there were two forms of accountability in the matter, political and legal.
“We have fulfilled our political responsibility by resigning,” she said. “The legal responsibility is to show who should have done something about it, who should have stopped it, instead of who knew about it.”
Her ministry was informed of the presence of the ammonium nitrate stored in the port of Beirut on July 27 – just a week before the explosion took place. But Najem said she was not responsible – her ministry was not involved in the case, given that there was a case related to the dangerous charge that was already in the courts of Lebanon.
“It’s not within my power to be interested,” she said.
Najem added that she understood that people wanted more than responsibility; that they wanted revenge from top officials who knew that the highly explosive material – used in bombs and fertilizers – had been there for so many years, but failed to act.
But she said energy should be focused on first holding people legally accountable, and then changing the Byzantine bureaucracy, public administration – and ultimately the political system through which such disasters can occur.
“Where this case will eventually go, no one can know,” she said. “The only thing I can say today, as Minister of Justice, is that I want justice done. I want the truth to be told to the Lebanese people and I want those responsible to pay for it.
“Not out of revenge, but legally speaking – just like in any other country in the world.”
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