Suspension of judge in Beirut port blast brings investigations back to square one

Arab News says Judge Tareq Bitar, the judicial investigator into the Beirut port explosion, was informed on Monday that he had been suspended from the case after MP Nohad Al-Machnouk filed an appeal against him last week.

Bitar suspended his investigation and all procedures related to the file, pending a decision by the Beirut Appeals Court to accept or reject the appeal filed by Al-Machnouk.

Bitar was appointed on Feb. 19 as the second judge to lead the investigation into the explosion, after Judge Fadi Sawan. On Feb. 18, Sawan was suspended from the file, four months after his appointment to lead the investigation, following requests by former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zuaiter, whom Sawan charged in relation to the incident, with the file was transferred due to “legitimate suspicion.”

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1936321/middle-east