Beirut Port explosion investigation: New tensions between Abboud and Oweidat

After the freezing of the investigation file into the Beirut Port explosion due to the lawsuits filed against the investigative judge Tarek Bitar and the accusation of the Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat against him for the crime of “usurpation of power,” Al-Akhbar learned that the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Suhail Abboud, seeks to move the file to return Bitar to his duties. 

This article was originally published in, and translated from, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.   

Judicial sources revealed that “Abboud is considering appointing a judge (higher in rank than Bitar) to interrogate him in the crimes attributed to him in Oweidat’s case of usurping power and misusing power and influence.”  

Provided that the judge “is known to be loyal to Abboud and issues a ruling to dismiss the charges against Bitar, allowing him to resume his work.” 

According to the sources, Abboud’s efforts “raised Oweidat’s resentment and restored tension to the relationship between them, which will extend the crisis of the Judicial Council, which has not been able to hold a meeting for more than a month.

As a number of its members will boycott the sessions to prevent the appointment of an indictment panel appointed by the Supreme Judicial Council (it may not include in its membership any of the members of the Council) to consider the appeal of the decision of the investigating judge, in case it happened.