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The resigned Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab called his accusation of negligence in the Beirut port explosion “unnatural”, and stressed that he did not want to become a “holocaust battering ram.”
Diab, who currently heads the interim government in Lebanon, said in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday: “I am never a rebel against the judiciary. Rather, I was the first to meet the examining magistrate when he began his investigations and he heard my full testimony. But the prosecution is another matter. ” And subject to the provisions of the constitution. “
He added: “The judge should have sent his file to the House of Representatives and the House is the one who is suing me. As for the issue of securing a third or two-thirds, I am not the one who wrote the constitution.”
“BBC” quoted Diab as saying in that statement to the coroner that one of his advisers informed him of the seizure of “TNT” materials at the port after he learned of the matter by chance.
The channel added that when arrangements were being made to visit Diab at the port based on this information, it turned out that it was inaccurate and that the materials had not been recently seized, nor were they of the “TNT” type.
Consequently, Diab, according to his statements, canceled his visit, asking the security agencies concerned to end the investigations so that he could take any informed steps. The resigned prime minister said: “I have never heard of aluminum nitrate before.”
Diab noted that the only official correspondence he received on this matter was on July 22, and the Prime Minister’s office immediately transferred it to the Ministries of Justice and Labor.
He continued to ask himself, “Was it me who brought the ammonium nitrate vaporizer to the port of Beirut in 2013? Did I take responsibility for the whole port problem? Is what is happening not normal?”
And he added: “I hope I am not a scapegoat. I do not know, but the accusation against me raises suspicions.”
Lebanon seeks to overcome the repercussions of a large explosion that rocked the port of the capital, Beirut, following a fire that hit a warehouse containing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, killing 204 people and injuring another 6.5 thousand with the destruction of entire neighborhoods of the city in a few seconds.
Beirut was declared a disaster zone, while the city witnessed angry protests over the blast, prompting the Diab government to resign.
Two weeks ago, an official Lebanese source reported that Diab had refused to be questioned by a judge who accused him and 3 former ministers of negligence in connection with the bomb attack in the port of Beirut.
Source: “BBC” + agencies
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