Beirut blast investigations: The latest

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Attorney Sakher Al-Hashem, representing director of the port of Beirut, Hassan Koreytem confirmed on Wednesday that Koreytem was released alongside Mohammad al-Awf, the port's security official.

He believed that by making the historic decision to free all detainees, Cassation Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat prevented a civil war in Lebanon.

Earlier in the day, Oweidat has decided to release every person detained in connection with the port explosion case without exception, bar them from traveling, put them at the disposal of the Judicial Council if it will convene and inform whoever is necessary.

“No one wants to dismiss Bitar. let him continue as he started, and in the coming days you will witness legal violations against me made by Bitar," Oweidat said.

He emphasized that the release of the detainees was unrelated to the US sanctions. As for the reason behind taking such a step today, he said that the matter was not previously brought up.

The families of those killed in the Beirut explosion gathered in response to Oweidat's decision to protest the release of those detained in the file.

This as information obtained by LBCI stated that Oweidat charged judicial investigator in the Beirut Port explosion case, Judge Tarek Bitar, before the General Authority of the Court of Cassation, and decided to prevent him from traveling.

Sources in the Public Prosecution Office of the Court of Cassation revealed to LBCI Oweidat sent the head of the Central Investigation Department and his assistant to Bitar's home in order to summon him for a hearing on the matter of usurpation of power.

However, Bitar refused to appear, so charges were brought against him.

“What the Public Prosecutor of cassation did is contrary to the law, as he had relinquished the port file, and he is accused by me. He is not entitled to take decisions to release detainees in a file under consideration by the investigating judge,” Bitar said to LBCI.

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