Beirut blast judge issues arrest warrant for ex finance minister Khalil
Gulf Times
Razor wire is pictured in front of the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, Lebanon September 29, 2021.
The lead judge investigating last year's catastrophic Beirut port blast issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil after he failed to show up for questioning.
Khalil was not immediately reachable for comment. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah voiced his harshest criticism yet of lead Judge Tarek Bitar on Monday when he called for his replacement in a televised address, saying he was biased and politicised
The remarks came weeks after Wafik Safa, a senior Hezbollah official, was said to have warned Bitar the group would remove him from the inquiry, according to a journalist and a judicial source.
The investigation into the Aug. 4, 2020, explosion, one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts in history, has made little headway amid the campaign against Bitar and pushback from powerful Lebanese factions.
