Legal entanglements of Beirut blast – GulfToday

Legal entanglements of Beirut blast – GulfToday

It is considered the most intense non-nuclear explosion. The 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that was stored in the Beirut port and exploded on August 4, 2020, which killed 200 people, injured 7000 and devastated large neighbourhoods near the port in Beirut has caused public outrage and a political crisis. But Lebanon’s wily politicians are not allowing the inquiry to go on. The politicians did not trust Judge Fadi Sawan and he was dismissed in February 2021, and then the politicians did not trust Judge Tarek Bitar. The investigation has been suspended since December 2021. The issue has been taken up by a Swiss organization, Accountability Now, and it has filed a $250 million damages suit on behalf of the victims. The linkages to the Moldovan ship Rhosus which was destined for Mozambique, but the ammonium nitrate was offloaded at Beirut is owned by Spectrum, a British firm, which in turn is owned by Texas-based TGS, a US-Norwegian geo-physical services firm. So, the Swiss NGO had filed damages suit against the TGS in Texas. That is, the ammonium nitrate was not meant to be offloaded in Beirut, and the mishandling of the whole episode starts here. Accountability Now president Zina