BEIRUT — The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement
Friday said a judge's move to subpoena the caretaker prime minister over the
Beirut port blast was "unacceptable" and urged the judiciary to
intervene.
اضافة اعلان
A huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploded at the
port on August 4 last year, destroying swathes of the city and killing at least 214
people.
It later emerged officials had known the highly volatile
fertilizer had been stored there for years, but a probe into the country's
worst peace-time disaster has so far failed to hold anyone to account.
Judge Tareq Bitar, the lead investigator, on Thursday
ordered the security forces to bring in outgoing prime minister Hassan Diab for
questioning on September 20, after he failed to respond to a summons to appear
before him on the same day.
Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, said the subpoena further
proved the probe was "based on ... targeting and politicization".
"What he did was to ... belittle the prime minister.
This is unacceptable," said the head of the Iran-backed Shiite movement.
"We call on the judicial authorities in Lebanon to
intervene and take action according to ... the Lebanese constitution and
Lebanese law."
In February, Bitar's predecessor was removed by a court
after he charged Diab and three former ministers with "negligence and
causing death to hundreds" in the explosion, a move widely condemned by
the political class.
Since inheriting the case, Bitar has summoned four former
ministers — three of whom are lawmakers — but parliament has refused to lift
their immunity so they can be questioned.
The outgoing interior minister has also refused to allow the
questioning of top intelligence chief Abbas Ibrahim.
Human Rights Watch earlier this month accused Lebanese
authorities of criminal negligence over the blast.
Diab's government resigned in the wake of the port
explosion, but has remained in a caretaker capacity as politicians have been
unable to agree on a new cabinet line-up ever since.
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